Illusions
by LeMoNsOuR
Summary: My name is John and I think I'm supposed to be dead... I don't know. I don't know how I even got here, and why that horrible man with the hollow eyes keeps following me. I can't trust anyone... not even Annabelle. No one can help me now...
1. A Murder Of Crows

2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Holes or any of Louis Sachars characters or plot. The featured poem is written by my friend Annabelle. It is called 'Crows'.**

**Credits: The main character (-you are free to snicker when I write this-) was inspired by Forrest Gump. (yes, Forrest Gump). **

**-**

_**As the child enters the world of the mortals**_

_**There came many a-crow**_

_**They pecked**_

_**They devoured**_

_**And tore at his meager clothes**_

_**Those awful, awful shadows that set my Hell a-glow**_

_-_

_He was different._

The bus jerked after passing a bump on the road. He bounced off his seat and slumped back down with a thump.

"Oof!"

He looked around with a happiness in his eyes, highly amused by flying off his seat.He waved his arms above his head in a sort of glee that annoyed both the guard and the driver.. The bus driver looked disgusted. He shifted a gaze at the guard, who also had the same expression on his face.

"It's like a roo-oo-ooler coaster, haha!"

_Retard._

After seventy seconds of repetetive arm-waving, the boy suddenly tired of amusing himself in this manner and sat silently, looking out of the window as if there was something worth looking at.

_-_

_He could feel children's curious gazes drilling at his hunched back._

_They were making fun of him._

_Whispers, giggles, pointing fingers._

_Yet he stayed hunched over the wooden picnic table of the playground._

_It was recess._

_He hated recess._

_He wouldn't have gone outside if it wasn't for Annabelle. _

_Where was she? She was supposed to be there every day in recess._

_Behind him;_

"_Yeah... the retatarded kid... moved here from some 'special' school his mom couldn't afford anymore..."_

_He closed his eyes shut and pressed at his ears so hard his head felt like it was going to pop._

_He spun around to face these children who were yet to know anything of human understanding and pointed at a girl with a red headband atop glossy, black, 'intelligent' hair._

_"I not stupid! YOU'RE STUPID!' He stamped his foot._

_Many giggled, but some were merciful enough to just stare in disgust._

_-_

It had only been 30 minutes since the bus had left for Greenlake.

But it felt like hours.

His head began to bob up and down as the bus went through a bumpy road.

"Whoaaaa! It's so bumpy, driver man!"

The driver turned his head away.

"Are we there yet?" he whispered.

The guard sitting at the front seat snapped his head in the boy's direction.

"No." the guard replied.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"..."

"Are we---"

"Nope."

"Are we there _now_?"

"...Yes."

"Really!"

"No."

There was silnce.

"Are we there yet?"

"Shut up, little man. Or I'll shoot you with this here gun!"

John stared blankly.

"Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

The boy was silent for a couple of seconds.

Then he smiled from ear to ear and exploded;

"COWBOYS AND INDIANS!"

The driver spat out the open window of the bus.

"Shut up, you fucking retard."

"I want to play…." he looked on the verge of tears. "Cowboys and Indians…"

"Well you CAN'T, okay? This is a real rifle, not a toy."

The boy was silent again for a few seconds.

"Annabelle used to like playing Cowboys and Indians."

The driver spat out the window again.

-

_He had covered his ears, but still he could hear the boys talking about him._

_That was a price to pay for having very good hearing._

"_Some people with John's intelligence level have very acute hearing." He remembered the doctor saying._

"_And very good memory. Although he's not considered autistic"_

_He felt someone sit beside him and he opened his eyes._

"_Hey there, Johnny." Annabelle smiled._

_He loved her smile._

"_Why you came late, Annabelle?"_

"_I was busy."_

"_I'm happy you're here! We can play another game, now!"_

_Annabelle was about to speak, when John heard a jeering voice behind him._

"_Oh my God! He's talking to himself again!"_

_Three boys shook their heads, two girls whispered in each others' ear._

_"Jesus, that kid scares me so bad."_

_-_

"Are we there yet?"

"No, dammit."

"Are we---"

"LOOK, I SAID WE'RE NOT THERE, YET! OKAY?" He shook his large head. "We still have a couple hours to go."

John scowled and turned his head to look out the window again.

He sighed loudly.

"OLD MACDONALD HAD A FARM….EI EI OOOOOOOH-----"

"I said shut up, you _fucking_ retard!"

John came to a dead halt.

His breathing deepened and his cheeks became almost pure red. Those eyes. Those dark eyes of his became moist and they took on a black glow.

"I'M NOT A RETARD!"

The guard just looked away, swearing in another language.

-

_One boy came up to sit beside him._

_He had red hair._

_John could still remember how bright red the boy's hair was._

"_Hey…um…Johnny, right?" the red-head slung a chubby arm across John's shoulder._

_John tensed up._

"_Why don't you come hang out with us? We…want to show you something.";_

_Carrot-top looked over his shoulder and smiled impishly at two other boys standing behind him._

_John smiled._

"_Leamme alone!"_

_Carrot-top and the other boys laughed loudly._

_John felt his face heat up._

_Suddenly Carrot-top grabbed John by the collar and roughly pushed his face to a bowl of jello on the table in front of them._

_It was red jello. Blood red jello._

_It seemed to be talking to him. _

_The talking bowl of jello._

_Ha ha..._

_Ha._

"_There ain't nobody here named Annabelle, Johnny boy. There ain't nobody here…"_

_-_

John's rear end began to feel numb from sitting on the vinyl seat for three hours.

He shifted around.

"Mr. Cowboy…" he said weakly to the annoyed bus driver.

"I have to go pee."

"We're in the middle of a freeway. You can't just stop and 'go pee.'"

He shifted in his seat again.

-

"_Please don't touch me." John meekly whispered._

_Carrot-top released his grasp from John's collar._

"_You're coming with us retard..." _

_Carrot-top laughed to himself as John screamed the word, "Annabelle." Some kids can be so stupid...making up friends named... Annabelle._

_John shook his head violently: "No!" He cried. "NO! NO! NO! ANNABELLE RAN AWAY! YOU SCARED HER!"_

_But the boys had each taken one of John's arms and dragged him from his sanctuary of a picnic table._

_No one cared. They went on talking and flirting with the opposite sex, and eating their luch, and laughing together to care what was happening to him._

"_Mrs. Klaus! Mrs. Klaus!" he cried to a teacher a few meters away._

"_Mrs. Klaus!"_

_She didn't hear or see him._

_The three boys dragged him behind the school building where no one ever went._

_And they used him as a punching bag._

_-_

It had been 3 more hours and the immobile activity in the buscaused his legs to get numb.

The view out the window was extraordinary.

Large holes were scattered densely around the landscape.

It was surreal.

Holes.

Thousands and thousands of them!

"Mr. Cowboy, why are there so many----"

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?"

-

"_Man, what is it about you that makes us so mad, Johnny Boy? Huh?"_

_Carrot-top threw another punch at John's stomach._

_John's eyes felt swollen from excessive sweat._

_Someone kicked his back._

_Another person swore happily and pushed at him._

"_Mrs. Klaus! Mrs. Klaus!" he shouted helplessly._

"_Man, why the hell does he keep saying that?"_

_One of the boys grabbed his hair. And pulled it._

"_Shut the hell up, Retard!"_

"_Mrs. Klaus! Mrs. Klaus! MRS. KLAUUUS!" _

_The boy kicked his face._

"_I said shut up!"_

_-_

"I said shut up!" The driver looked a-wreck. His hair was literally standing on end, and his balded head was shining with sweat.

"But I feel like singing! My momma always said; 'When your spirits are down, singing erases the frown."

And began singing again.

"Amaaaazing Graaaace. How sweeeeet, the sound. That-----"

The driver positioned his gun and smiling demonically, he aimed it at the now trembling 14-year old.

-

_It was unbearable pain._

_Why were they doing this to him?_

_What had he done?_

_What had he----_

"_OOF!"_

_Someone had taken their backpack and swung it into his face._

_That made Carrot-top release his grasp from John's arm and the force of the backpack threw him down._

_John could now run._

_But he was in pain._

_Blinding pain._

_His lip was busted and blood was trickling from countless wounds._

_One eye felt swollen. It was sure to become black the next day._

_Suddenly he spotted something!_

_A baseball bat, abandoned by some merciful angel, perhaps._

_With the last strength he had, he heaved himself towards the only weapon he could spot._

_-_

_With one bruised hand, he snatched the baseball bat and swung it towards nothing in particular, blindly swinging it into the air._

_Then it hit something._

_There was a sickening **crack** and a moan, then someone crumpling onto the ground._

_John's vision cleared and he gasped, rather squeaked at what he saw._

_He had killed him._

_He was sure of it._

_He had killed Carrot-top._

_-_

"Are you gonna kill me, Mister?"

The guard smirked and lowered his gun.

"I ain't gowna kill you, Little Man." The guard chuckled to himself.

John smiled gratefully.

The driver pretended not to care. But he liked John's innocent smile.

Everyone liked John's smile.

-

_Two boys stood, shocked at the immobile body of their friend crumpled on the ground in front of them._

"_Oh my God. You killed him."_

_One boy's face twisted in pure anger._

"_YOU KILLED HIM, YOU RETARD!"_

_John shook his headslowly, as if hypnotized._

_He dropped the bat and it landed with a series of bounces that echoed through the smoky air._

_Frightened, the two boys bolted for the playground._

"_Mrs. Kaus! Mrs. Klaus!" This time **they** were the ones shouting for that careless teacher._

_Johnny knelt down beside the unmoving redhead. The side of his skull was busted and blood was tricklingprofuselyfrom the temple._

_Suddenly Carrot-top groaned, and his head moved to one side._

_Johnny gasped._

"_Hey! You didn't die!"_

"_Over here, Mrs. Klaus! He just came out of nowhere and started swinging at us with a baseball bat!"_

_Mrs. Klaus, a tiny woman with gray hair, stood shocked. She covered her moth slowly with one wrinkled hand._

"_Oh my heavens."_

_But Johnny was shouting gratefully ; "Look Mrs. Klaus! He's not dead! He's not----"_

"_Wesley, Max, call the police for me please. Or go get the principal. Now."_

_Both boys ran out of the scene._

_Mrs. Klaus was still standing there, like a lonely bowling pin._

"_Oh Johnny."_

_"Johnny, what have you done?"_

_-_

_**They killed him, those crows**_

_**Because he was different**_

_**He was the runt, the outcast**_

_**A fish against currents**_

**_The outsider, the pariah, the albino. ungrown_**

_**They pecked **_

_**They devoured**_

**_They demolished he who was not_**

_**A crow**_

_**-**_


	2. John

3

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Holes, or any good works of the author Louis Sachar. I had nothing to do with the creation of the song, "_Imaginary"_**

**-**

**CREDITS: The idea of the story is inspired by Annabelle. The featured song is by Evanescence, _Imaginary_. Not all of the song is presented in this manuscript.**

**DEDICATED TO: TeaCat, Lilmizzrebel31, Intoxicated Romance, & ArwenEvenstar83**

**-**

**I only have two words for you all;**

_**Thank you.**_

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_I linger in the doorway,_

_Of alarm clocks screaming_

_Monsters calling my name_

_Let me stay_

No one bothered to stop and stare as the curious boy stepped out of the immoral, dust-covered bus.

He was strange, with his dark, close-together eyes that looked around the landscape with bewilderment.

No one noticed his raven black hair that swept past his forehead like fluffy, straight clouds.

No one noticed his pink clothes, the way he walked, the way his head bounced around in delight.

No one noticed his dazed expression and how It seemed as if he was in his own world…and enjoying it.

But they **did** notice his childish smile, which brought a strange sense of familliarity to everyonewho bothered to look at him.

_Everyone liked John's smile_.

-

_Don't say I'm out of touch_

_With this rampant chaos_

_Your reality_

_I know what lies beyond my sleeping refuge_

_The nightmare I built my own world to escape_

_-_

"Hey!" John said happily as he looked around the surroundings like a small child, "Where's the lake!"

The guard grunted. He poked John's back with the tip if his rifle.

"Follow me."

"Ouch." John said quietly. "Ouch, you poked me."

"Well, there's nothing you can do about it now, isn't there?"

"But…y--you poked me." John remained where he was and didn't take another step. "You...poked...me..."

"MOVE!"

John shuffled his feet to where the guard was pointing his gun; into a humid, stuffed office.

The office itself was like a mortal hell. The only source of cooling was a dusty fan that rotated slowly around, making the only noise heard in the room. It was very light in there, and the sun rays beat powerfully into the room...

Mortal hell.

"WOW! WHY IS IT SO DIRTY IN HERE?" John asked loudly, unaware of the sound of his voice.

He laughed cheerfully as if he'd said something incredibly funny, his head bobbling around, scanning the room.

The guard bent over and whispered roughly in Johns ear; "Now don't you go saying that in front of Mr. Sir! He'll skin you alive!"

John rubbed the side of his head. "You…you spitted in my ear."

The guard sighed with frustration.

"Well, what're you waitin' for? GET IN HERE! I ain't got all day!" called a rough voice from behind the pile of junk.

A wrinkled man was slumped over a desk so full of papers and junk-food wrappers, there was no space to even write on it.

His sideburns curved hideously under well-moused hair. His eyes were permanently squinted, and they glared angrily at the frightened boy standing at the doorway. The man's nose was giant, and bumpy. It reminded John of the carrot he put on a snowman just one year ago...Described politely: He was ugly.

"SIT!"

John just stared at him with emty eyes and a slightly open mouth.

"Woof!" he exclaimed, and laughed again.

Dogface took a look of surprise and it was replaced by reddening anger.

He cleared his throat, and read the yellow file in his hand.

"Are you Chineesie or summin? Gawd, I hate those Chineesies" He spat a wad of chewed gray seedshells into a jar.

John did not know the meaning of Racism, and therefore, did not reply to Dogface's retort.

"…John Li... Age 14….Cause of charge..."

He stopped when he read what John had done to get to this place. This awful, awful place.

"Whoowee! You gave a guy a concussion! You're pretty tough for a Retard!"

John covered his ears and closed his eyes.

"I'M NOT A RETARD!"

Dogface ignored him.

"My name is Mr. Sir. Whenever you speak to me you will address me by that name."

John looked around, and then set his large, dark eyes on Mr. Sir.

"Is your wife's name _Mrs_. Sir?"

Dogface stood up and slapped the boy on the face.

"DON'T YOU BE MOUTHIN' ME, BOY!"

Johns eyes went small and he looked down, twiddling his thumbs.

"I-I'm sorry, Mr. Sir."

Then John looked up slowly and smiled sweetly for no reason at all.

Dogface's face softened, which was physically hard to do. (His name wasn't dogface for nothing)

He liked John's smile.

_Everyone liked John's smile._

Dogface stood up, revealing a large pot belly which made his pink shirt look like a marshmallow.

"Follow me."

-

Strangely, John took favor to his new, orange jumpsuit.

"Can---Can I have a water? I'm thirsty…" John made exaggerated coughing noises to emphasize his thirst.

Dogface was going to say something when the door burst open like it was struck by lightning.

I short man stepped in.

His words practically blasted from his throat:

"HELLO!"

John squeaked and hid helplessly behind Dogface, clinging to his ironically pink shirt. This surprised Mr. sir very much, and from then on, he was more perplexed with this one simple, human being than nay more complex character he would meet in his life.

"Don't be frightened, little boy! I'm Dr. Pendanski, I'll be your counselor! I just want you to know, that you may have done some bad things but that does not make you a bad kid."

The strange man opened his arms widely.

"I respect you, John."

Pendanski laughed joyously, like a psychotic Santa Claus, which frightened John.

"He's...He's not a nice man!" John shouted from behind Dogface.

Dogface chuckled. Pendanski frowned.

"Come on! We'll introduce ourselves to your camp members!" He happily swept his arms towards the outside.

John began to fear the Outside.

He timidly picked up his things and shuffled towards the strange, short man with knee-high socks and a white-painted nose.

"You'll be in D-Tent. 'D' stands for Di-li-gence. Can you say that, John? _Di-li-gence_." Pendanski smiled ignorantly and continued walking.

"Wh-what's "diligence" mean?"

Pendanski stopped walking, and he looked down, then left, then right, with a trapped expression on his face. He chuckled embarrasingly and looked at the little boy with a sheepish smile.

He didn't answer John's question.

"Now here we have the showers..."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three boys with dust-smeared faces and exhausted eyes swaggered lazily towards Pendanski and the New Guy.

One of them wiped his glasses with his dirty fingers and peered curiously at the strange boy.

"Hey, mom…who's the wierdo?"

Pendanski frowned; "It should be no labor, be nice to your neighbor!"

"Boys, this is John. Be especially nice to John, you see; he's an R-E-T-A-R-D…" Pendanski spelled the words intolerantly.

John looked hurt and kicked Pendanski hard in (as John called) the "bad place".

"I'M NOT A RETARD!" John shouted

Pendaski doubled over and groaned in pain.( But he was still smiling!)

One of the three boys laughed so hard his face went red.

"Whoah. The freak can spell!"

"A-a-and you can smell!" John shouted back childishly, on the verge of tears.

"Lookie here! The Freak can rhyme too!" said the third boy.

His speech was slurred because of a toothpick in his mouth.

"John, this is Rex, Alan, and Theodore. They will be your tent-mates."

"Where's Barfbag?"

"Um…Louis won't be returning. He's still in the hospital…"

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence.

Just silence.

"Did he get bitten by a rattle snake?" John asked suddenly.

This took everyone by surprise, and they just blinked and looked at John with shock.

"How did you know that, John?"

John didn't move a muscle. His freckled smile shone brightly.

"John..."

"Annabelle Told Me!" John said as if it was the most obvious answer.

They exchanged glances. And looked at John with frightened eyes.

But John's face was mellow, and his eyes were so far away as he dazed into his own world.

One of the boys waved a hand in front of John's face. But he didn't blink. He didn't stir. He didn't breathe.

Then he smiled.

The three boys'disgusted facesbecame upturned smirks.

They liked John's smile.

_Everyone liked John's smile._

_-_

_In my field of paper flowers_

_And candy clouds of lullaby_

_I'd lie inside myself for hours_

_And watch my purple sky fly over me_

_-_


	3. They Hate Me

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Holes, or any other character of the book "Holes."**

**-**

* * *

4

John sat as motionless as a stump in on his cot, smiling dreamily.

There was a loud, deafening _BRRRRINGGG!_  
But still, John's face was distant, dreaming of some far away land with paper flowers and candy clouds.

X-Ray was annoyed by this. He didn't like people who never talked to him. It meant they didn't respect him.

Everyone has to respect X-Ray.

Everyone.

He went in front of John and snapped his fingers in front of the boy's face.

"Helooo? Is anybody home?"

John blinked, and then smiled.

"Oh! Sorry. I was just talking to Annabelle. She says she likes you."

X-Ray smirked.

"Oh really? What else did she say about me?"

John shrugged.

"Well, she said that she felt bad about you."

X-Ray felt like slapping this bitch and running him over with awater truck..

"And why does this "Annabelle" bitch have to feel sorry for _me_?"

Then the words came out like stones:

"Annabelle told me you're going blind. "

X-Ray's face lost its color.

"What the fuck?"

John just smiled.

He grabbed John by his collar and lifted him up so their faces were parallel. X-Ray stared him down but John just stared through him with empty eyes."The name's X-Ray."

"Please, stop hurting me…my neck hurts…"

X-Ray released his grasp of John's collar angrily.

" Your Annabelle's' wrong, Little Man… I still got my eyesight. And I'll never loose it, ya hear?"

John's face was still as motionless as wax.

"Annabelle is never wrong." John simply said.

X-Ray spat on the floor and said;

"Now, X-Ray don't want you tellin' anyone else about what….your friend Annabelle told you, a'aight?"

"Okay."

"Don't tell anyone!"

"Okay."

"I can't make it any clearer, Gilbert Grape...You tell, you die. You dig?"

X-Ray walked out of the tent with a "tough" looking swagger to his step

"Didn't you hear the ringing? It's time for lunch, Little Man."

--

The boys were already there, at the D-Tent table. They seemed to be having a good time.

"Yo, X-Ray!" One of them called out to him.

"Yo! I'll be right wit y'all!"

X-Ray did some sort of breakdance thing in front of everyone and then ran towards the other boys, slapping them each high fives.

"Yo, wassup?"

"Wassup, man?"

"Hey."

"Hey."

X-Ray had left him. John was by himself.

John was left alone, standing there, amidst the crowd.

"What do I do now, Annabelle?"

"_Well, why don't you go to that line over there and get some food, silly!"_

John grabbed a food tray and walked towards the line of "tough-looking" boys, occasionally stealing annoyed glances at John.

"Man, why is he looking at us? That Freak creeps the fuck out of me..."

One boy pretended to walk towards John, and then pushed him so hard, he fell and knocked over some food.

"Watch where you're goin', you damn retard!" The boy spat.

John took his tray and raised it high above his head...

And SMASHED the side of the boy's face with it.

"I'M NOT A RETARD!"

The Boy was knocked over immediately and he came down with a loud THUMP.

"What the hell you do that for, you Freak!"

The Boy had a newly formed bruise on the side of his head where he was hit with the tray.

One guy, who was serving food from behind the counter, rushed out and ran beside John.

"You better get outta here now, kid." He whispered hoarsely in John's ear. "No one who messes wit Walker gets out alive."

And then he hurried back behind the counter.

"Well...what you got to say fo' yourself, Freak?"

"I'm sorry. I-I'm sorry, Carrot-top." John kept saying over and over again to the boy on the floor. His face had that far-away look again.

"I'm…I'm sorry Carrot-top... I'm sorry…"

The Boy got up, still holding the side of his face…

…And punched John, dead in the eye.

John staggered back and knocked over some more food.

From the background, boys were throwing their food at them and shouting:

"_FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"_

The Boy walked intimidatingly towards John, who was now whimpering in fear.

"No one ever touches Charlie Walker!" He growled.

_FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!_

The taunting screams made John dizzy. It made him so dizzy, the whole thing didn't feel real.

John was crying again, still repeating the words; "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Carrot-top! I'm sorry!"

And James walker _did_ look like Carrot-top, with his chubby build, freckles, and orange-red hair.

That hair.

"I'm sorry…I-I'm sorry Carrot-top…"

"WHO YOU CALLIN' 'CARROT-TOP'!... HUH?"

With his face distorted in anger, the red-head stepped forward and kicked John in the stomach.

_FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! _Came the background swirling of noises.

John couldn't move. He was paralyzed by his own fear.

"What you waitin' for, Retard? Hit me back!"

John covered his face with his trembling arms.

"HIT ME BACK!" James Walker kicked him in the stomach again.

_FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!_

John sank to the floor, and rolled himself into a ball.

"COME ON!... WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU! ...HIT ME B--"

**-BANG!-**

Mr. Sir was posed outside the doorway with a gun pointed up into the sky. Smoke wafted from it.

"THAT IS ENOUGH, BOYS!"

The cafeteria went quiet.

"What's going on?"

No one answered,

"Well…WHO STARTED THIS!"

Everyone pointed to the balled-up, whimpering animalon the floor.

"John!"

The boy rose his head.

"Come over here…"

"I-I'm sorry, Carrot-top…" John only said quietly. "I-I'm sorry."

"I SAID GET OVER HERE!"

John got up and shuffled over to Dogface with his hands tightly tucked under his neck.

Pendanski was behinds him.

"John…" Mr. Pendanski said softly.

"Y-Yeah? I'm John." He pointed to himself.

"I'm…I'm John…. I'm--I'm John." He jabbed his pointer finger at his chest.

Pendanski sighed and looked sadly at the frightened boy.

"John, you've done a very bad thing."

--

**NOTE: Please tell me if you think there is something missing in this story, or if I am not getting the points of view very accurately.**

**I am a girl trying to make a story about a boy, so please review and tell me if I've gotten anything wrong or offensive.**

**CHARACTER DISCLAIMER: The character of this book is someone who I knew very well. (-sigh-) I feel like crying everytime I think about it.**


	4. Golden Revelations

**Disclaimer: I don't own Holes or any ideas that Louis Sachar has presented in his book.**

**NOTE: The conversation between Dr. Pendaski and John will have future purposes later in the story. It's supposed to be sort of a mystery fanfic, so you know...blah blah. I kind of got tired of fanfics always portraying Pendanski the same way, who doesn't seem to have any purpose to his existence expet to make everyone else look cool by behaving abnormally cheerful.**

-

* * *

_Long ago, in Greece, there lived a king, rich with almost everything possible.  
Money, A loved daughter, food...__  
__One day, he rescued a drunken man named Silenus  
Silenus had a son, Dyonisus, who was so greatful, he told Midas he would grant Midas one wish.  
__  
"Any wish. I'll grant it for you."  
__Midas was thoughtful, then he replied happily;  
"I wish for everything I touch to turn to gold!"  
Dyonisus smiled.  
"Granted."  
__  
_

4

PART: I

_Quiet_.

F- tent was so soundless, John could feel his very pulse drum as loud as a sequence of cannons.

Pendanski tapped his pen patiently onto his clipboard.

Whilst everyone else was outside, enjoying their pathetic little lives, John and Pendanski were here. In F-tent, discussing something pointlessly obscure in every way.

"Do you know what you did to get to this place, John?"

John shook his head slowly.

"Can't you remember what you did in the cafeteria? Well, I'm here to help. So don't be afraid to talk to me. I am your counselor."

John shrugged, but kept his gaze on the palm of his sweaty hands.

"John...I've also made some very bad mistakes in my life, but one day I woke up and I realized; I can't change the past. I can only affect the future. That's why I'm here to listen, and to tell you that what you did was wrong and prevent you _from doing it again_."

Pendanski never got tired of reciting his "encouraging" words to the wonderful members of D-Tent.

"He-he called me a retard...He call me a retard."

Pendanski sighed as he shifted his position on the chair.

"John, you can't hit everyone who calls you a Retard."

"B-but he hit me more!"

"But you started it, am I right?"

John pouted and wrapped his arms around himself insecurely.

"Well, do you know why I'm talking to you in this tent while everyone is out there having a good time?"

"They are not having a good time, King Midas! They never have a good time in Camp Greenlake."

Pendanski rubbed his bearded chin.

"Why do you call me King Midas?"

John smiled, and said as if he was repeating what someone else said:

"Don't you know the story of King Midas?"

"Yes."

"Well, he turned everything to Gold."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Cause that's what your heart's made of."

-

_At first midas was happy with his golden touch  
But everything he tried to eat, turned into gold before he swallowed it  
Slowly, Midas began to starve  
Greediness began to deprive him of what he neeed most_

_-_

John smiled politely, but refused to lift his head up.

Pendanski's golden heart began to sink. It reached down to his stomach, then arose with a freezing sensation.

"That's so funny…" Pendanski said with a funny huskiness in his throat.

"I used to know someone who used to call me that a long time ago…as sort of a joke...or..."

Pendanski's eyes became small and distant, and he smiled to himself. He seemed to have been lost in his own past, his own memory for a second before he realized what he was doing and snapped back into the reality.

"Well, the best you can do when someone calls you something mean is ignore them..." Pendanski recited, after saying this a million times to more than 100 boys.

"But, Mr. Midas!"

"Ignore them..." He said, raising his voice.

John stared.

"But you can't ignore _her_."

"Excuse me?"

John didn't answer.

"Well, we should be getting back to the main point. John, what you did in the cafeteria this afternoon was--"

"--She misses you, Mr. Midas."

Pendanski blinked.

"What?"

"She misses you."

Pendanski laughed nervously, trying to keep the pleasant smile on his face.

"Your little girl. She misses you."

"Why do you-- How do you know about my daughter?"

"--She told me she still thinks about you day and night. She does. That's 'zactly what she said: "Day and Night.". And--"

John paused,

"And she used to call you King Midas whenever you would give her flowers or do something nice--"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

"White roses. That's right... White Roses. You had a garden of white roses behind your house...You would alwaysmake her a necklace of white roses when she was sad..."

"And her mommy, she loved you even more--"

Pendanski closed his eyes, as if to block a terrible image from his mind.

"No. No that can't be right, John."

John looked up, and then looked confusingly at Pendanski.

"No…I'm sure she said --"

"John. No! She couldn't have said that…"

"But--"

"She's dead John. She's been gone for eight years now."

"But she told me!"

"John. I want you to leave. Go and tell Mr. Sir you've learnt your lesson."

Pendanski turned his head away, rubbed his eyes and kept them closed, refusing to look at John.

John flinched, unsure of what to do. Then he got up hesitatingly and walked out of the tent.

Mr. Sir came strutting by just as John exited the tent.

He squatted over to face John.

"So did you learn your lesson? HUH?" He spat.

"I learned my lesson."

Mr. Sir sucked in a sunflower seed, chewed it,and shot it onto the dry sand.

"Good."

John shuffled away, dragging his small feet behind him.

-  
_Midas had a beautiful, sweet daughter, whom he loved most in the world  
"Father, you've turned all the white roses into gold!" She cried softly.  
"How could you do this to my beautiful, beautiful roses!"  
"Daughter, I couldn't help that. Everything I touch turns to--"  
"Gold!" She spat.  
"All the white roses have turned gold! My prize possesions are ruined thanks to you!"  
She cried bitterly  
Midas came forward to embrace her  
But he had forgotten...  
Just as he had touched everything else, his daughter had turned to GOLD.  
__Lifeless gold.  
"No..." He sobbed, looking through teary eyes at hisstatue of adaughter.  
"No! What have I done?"_

_His greed was replaced by death.  
_

--

PART II:

"Annabelle. I'm lost. Where do I go?"

"_Let's play a game."_

John smiled. Annabelle always found ways to create a game.

"_We're going to look for a green tent with the big letter "D" on it. Whoever finds it first wins."_

John scanned the dirty campgrounds until he spotted the structure in the semi-darkness.

"I see it! I see it!" John clapped his hands delightfully, like a 4-year old about to blow out his birthday candles.

"_Let's play a game."_

"Yay! Two games!"

"_Let's race and see who reaches the tent first. Now you have to run as FAST as you can! AS FAST AS YOU CAN, OKAY?"_

John nodded impatiently, wanting to start the little game.

"_AS FAST AS YOU CAN!"_

"_Go!"_

John ran as fast as his could carry him towards D-tent.

He did not know what was behind him.

He did not know.

What.

Was.

Behind.

Him.

A loud gunshot stoped john dead in his tracks.

Slowly…slowly he turned around.

John knew that sound very well.

Mr. Sir was standing just a few meters away, holding a gun in his hand, which has tufts of smoke rising from it.

Cautiously, he put the gun back into his holster.

"You better watch it." He said. "This ain't a Girl Scout Camp..."

And he strutted away.

John's lower lip trembled, and his large, dark eyes became even larger.

Mr. Sir had fired a gun.

At him.

No wait….not at _him_…

John looked at the small, yellow lump lying in the desert sand just a few inches away from him.

It was a living thing. And it was bleeding.

John stepped closer to it.

A lizard.

A lizard with yellow spots.

It lay on his back with a crimson-stained hole in the middle of its tiny chest where Mr. Sir had accurately shot it.

It writhed around, in agonizing pain. The tail swished.

John stepped closer to it, just a few inches away.

The blaring red eyes seemed to grow dimmer and dimmer.

It was a lizard.

But John still felt like running away again. Running away into his hiding place that he carried so deep in his mind.

His retarded mind. As they called it.

Guns.

They cause destruction.

People depend on guns.

To cause more destruction.

People depend on them to protect themselves.

To cause more destruction.

People depend on guns to put meat on the table.

To cause more destruction.

Guns.

"I hate guns..." he whispered loudly, yet heartbreakingly.

The lizard's chest was inflating up, and them down.

Now it hardly moved.

It was poisonous. John knew that. Dogface had told him.

If it wasn't for the Gun, the lizard would have jumped on him, and injected foul poison into his veins. And John would be dead.

John would be dead.

The lizard had stopped moving.

The lizard had died instead.

Then he remembered how urgent Annabelle's voice had been just seconds ago.

She has almost sounded desperate, yet calm and happy as she always was.

"_RUN AS **FAST** AS YOU CAN, OKAY?"_

"_AS **FAST** AS YOU CAN!"_

John sighed, and stood up straight, dusting his orange jumper.

"_That was very fast running John! Wow, you can be a racer!"_

John smiled brightly.

"A racer!...A **CAR** RACER! Vrooom! Vrooom!"

He laughed merrily, driving an imaginary car towards D-tent.

The urgency in Annabelle's voice left his forgetful mind as dreams of becoming a famous car racer filled his every dream...

"_RUN AS **FAST** AS YOU CAN!"_

It's kind of funny when you think of how one little detail could change you, your life... others' lives.

If...

If John had run a little bit slower.

If...

If the bullet had missed the lizard.

If...

If Annabelle just wasn't so good at making up 'games'...

If...

"_RUN AS **FAST** AS YOU CAN, JOHN! "_

_"AS FAST AS YOU CAN!"_

* * *

**Lots of reviews...I'm sure** **I replied to them before, but something must have happened to the last chapter i published. **

**maryclara: I dunno if that was a good "Wow" or a bad "wow" but thanks for reviewing!**

**Lilmizzrebel31: Evanescence is my favourite band! Hoorah! Oh...and thanks for reviewing. Thou art my top reviewer.**

**Nosilla: Well, if something bad were to happen to X-Ray, wouldn't it have to do with his eyesight? O.k. Maybe not. Thanks for taking the time to read my story (I sound so preppy).**

**Nicole13-1991: O.o...You are so nice! This chapter is now dedicated to you!**

**NothingSpecial: Thankx 4 sying that about my story, but come on! Is "LeMoNsOuR" that bad? I've had that nickname for years! To answer your question: My penname was made because "LeMoN" has the first initial of my name, and "SoUr" has the second initial of my name "L.S." Also the name seemed to match. My favourite candy flavor is lemon. And plus...it's kind of fun to write it with those randomly capitalized letters...  
I know the spelling is "because" but I don't know...yes, i am aware of my spelling errors, and I always go over my chapters, but I may miss a word or two.**

**DisasterZone16: This is one of the nicest reviews I've ever gotten. "ARTIST"! Wow. And you know, I think many people like long reviews. I love them.**


	5. Ebony Memories

* * *

_5_

John didn't quite know what to do… he stared blankly at the six boys in front of him.

"What's yo' name, little kid?" asked a large, black boy.

"I'm John." He said cheerfully. "John Li."

"What the Hell kind of a name is that?"

"A short one." John answered simply.

The other boy stared at him unbelievingly.

"What are you, stupid or something?"

"My mommy says;' stupid is, stupid does'."

"I bet you killed a guy to get here right? He probably called you a retard…" A taller boy with 'electrified' blonde hair that stuck out in every direction.

John stamped his foot.

"I'M NOT A RETARD!"

The boys covered their ears and groaned.

"What the hell? You gots the loudest voice I ever heard!"

A small boy, not much younger than John, spoke up from out of the shadows of the tent.

"Why are you here?"

Everyone turned their heads at John, then at the quiet boy, then at John again.

"Whoah! Dude! You made Zero tawk!" Squid said, and the toothpick dropped from his mouth. He tried to catch it, but groaned angrily when it bounced off the ground.

"Yo, what else can you do, Zero?"

The quiet boy, who was obviously Zero, turned his head away from them and crossed his arms.

"My mommy says you can't underestimate people."

Everyone laughed.

To them it was funny. To John it was just a regular moral his beloved mother used to monotonously repeat to him.

One Hispanic boy came out amidst the crowd and stuck out his arm and shook John's hand.

"My name's---"

"magnet… ." John smiled. And pointed to each other tent member as he said all of their 'names'.

Magnet's eyes widened.

"How did you know all of us without even seeing us before."

John shrugged.

"Annabelle told me…"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first hole is always the hardest.

John's soft, brittle hands had ripped open into hideous scars and blisters.

"Why we have to dig holes, Squid?" John asked after wiping sweat from his brow.

Squid grunted and turned his head away from John.

John giggled and swung his shovel back and forth, causing sand to fly everywhere.

"I said, why do we have to dig holes, Squid?" he said louder.

Squid stayed silent and spat into a dirt pile.

John looked hurt.

"Hey! Midas said you have to be my mentor! My mommy told me the word 'mentor' means 'teacher'. And you have to answer my questions 'cause that's what teachers do!"

Squid stepped out of his hole and kicked some dirt in John's direction.

"Well, did your _mommy _also tell you you're one annoying little bastard?"

John gasped and covered his mouth with one hand.

"You said a bad word! You said the "B" word!"

Squid glared, and went back to digging his hole.

Murmurs from other boys were heard from all directions.

There was a silence.

"My Mommy said bad words show that you're too afraid to say anything creative."

Squid sneered.

"Well, was your Mommy polite in sending you here to dig holes for the rest of your life?"

"No. Not the rest of my life. Dogface said only for 24 months."

"Who the hell is Dogface?" Asked X-Ray from behind Squid.

John was about to speak.

"Never mind, I don't want to know."

More silence.

"Is it 24 months yet?"

"What the hell? You gonna shut your trap or do I have to bust a cap in yo' ass?"

"Why do you want to bust a cap in my---"

"----What the hell will it take to shut you up, little boy?"

John pouted and began digging again.

He missed his mother.

"Mommy said when people die, they can't come back because they are too high up in the sky to come down."

Squid looked at John not with anger, but now with pity.

Everyone looked at John with pity.

And he was tired of it.

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

_FOUR YEARS AGO:_

_**Once upon a midnight dreary, **_

_**while I pondered, weak and weary**_

_**Over a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore**_

Thunder boomed from all directions, sounding like the Gods of the sky had finally come and caused an apocalypse.

John hid meekly under his covers as the lightning illuminated his room in a udden glow, and then died again.

"Mommy…" he whispered.

His shaking hands had dropped the book he was reading and it clonked onto the floor with an echoing 'thud'.

It was too dark to read anyway…

Too dark.

His room was covered with blackness that reflected every shadow and silhouette of his imagination..

He was alone.

_Alone_. This word scared him more than most.

"Mommy…"

A gust of wind came from out of nowhere and teased John's pale face.

But the window was closed.

No.

He wasn't alone.

"Mommy…" He could barely create a sound from his throat.

Thunder screamed through the skies.

"M---MOMMY!" He managed to scream.

He closed his eyes tightly and--

Suddenly there came a noise.

_**While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping**_

_**As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door…**_

The thunder had subsided…and it was replaced by a subtle scratching sound.

"Go away…" John whispered from under his covers.

The scratching made John's eyes twitch uncontrollably.

_Scratch, Scratch_

"Leave me alone!"

The scratching stopped.

"**_Tis some visitor" I muttered. "Tapping at my chamber door."_**

_**Only this and nothing more.**_

Silence made John whimper as he could do nothing but hide under his blankets.

_Scratch. Scratch._

"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!" he screamed through sobs.

He knew who was trying to get in.

Someone was always trying to get in.

_They_ were trying to get in.

_Scratch. Scratch._

"I don't want you here! Please go away!"

_Scratch. Scratch. Scratch._

It suddenly became hard to breathe. He wanted so badly to stick his head out of the smoldering covers but he was afraid of what he would see,

At the window.

_**And the silken, sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain**_

_**Thrilled me, filed me with fantastic terrors never felt before**_

_**So that now, to the still beating of my heart, I stood repeating,**_

"_**Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door**_

_**This it is, and nothing more.**_

It was so suffocating, just so suffocating.

Breathe. He must breathe.

Closing his eyes tightly, he stuck his head out of the covers and inhaled deeply.

Don't open your eyes, John.

Don't open---

He opened his eyes.

And screamed.

A rotting, dead face stood grinning hellishly from the window. It was grinning, like it was…

Laughing at him.

Blood trickled weakly out of black wounds and lacerations all around the face. The black, socketless eyes were sad….so sad.

Yet it was grinning.

It was grinning madly.

"MOMMY! MOMMY! MOMMY!" he screamed again and again.

_OPEN THE WINDOW, JOHN! _it said over and over again._OPEN THE WINDOW..._

The creature laughed, spurting droplets of blood as it hacked the vile liquid out of its horrendous mouth.

Is mouth was as empty as its eyes.

_**This I sat, engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing**_

_**To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core**_

Thunder burst from the clouds.

_OPEN THE WINDOW._

"GO AWAY! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO COME HERE!" He sobbed hysterically, pressing his eyes with his hands until they hurt.

Thunder cracked again.

_LET ME IN, JOHN._

"Leave me alone! Why don't you ever leave me alone!"

_LET._

"Help me! Mommy! Help!"

_ME_

"I hate you! I hate you! Leave me alone!"

_IN._

The door burst open with such force, it made John's heart stop for what seemed like forever.

"Johnny? What's wrong?"

John gasped.

"Mommy!"

"Johnny! You were screaming and screaming…why didn't you unlock the door, John?"

"Mommy! they were going to--"

John shivered.

"Why didn't you unlock the door?"

John got up his courage to lift his head from the blankets and look at the window.

It was gone.

The creature was gone.

"John, can't you hear me?"

_**Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer**_

His mother walked worriedly to John's bed.

She was in her night gown, which was imprinted with dull, yellow flowers that were diluted by the vivid brightness of her green eyes.

"John!"

He gave his mother a frightened hug and whispered in a hoarse voice,

"One of them were here, mommy. One of them came."

Her brows furrowed and she shook her head.

"John. Your doctor said never to lock the door. Those monsters only live in your imagination. They are---"

She was cut short as the saw the droplets of blood on the window.

"Oh my God."

"They were here, mommy. They were here! I told them to go away!"

He mother shook her head sharply.

"From now on, you will not lock your door anymore, John. You hear me?'

John took a deep breath.

"I never locked it."

_**Quoth the Raven, Nevermore.**_


	6. Spartain Graves

John used to dig holes when he was little.

He would step inside his house with dirty shoes and clothes, which drove his mother crazy.

"If you come here one more time with those dirty shoes, I am going to make sure you never have a chance to go outside again!"

That's what she said every day. And John kept on digging holes in his back yard.

The thing was that the holes he dug were not round, nor square, nor any other shape that little kids were fascinated by.

They were shaped like a grave.

2 feet wide, and 7 feet long, and 6 feet deep, he would go to neighbors' yards and even public places to dig holes.

"Baby, why don't you be a nice boy and stop digging holes in Mr. Patterson's yard. She was very mad at you…you don't want people to be mad at you, right?"

"Mommy, I have to dig them. Some people don't have one."

"What do you mean, Johnny?"

"Some people don't have a place to sleep. They ask me to make a bed for them so they can sleep."

His mother laughed lightheartedly.

"Baby, who would want to sleep under the ground?"

"The Silent people, Mommy. Some of them never got the chance to sleep because no one ever gave them one."

After that day, John was forced to never dig holes again.

--------------------------------------------

"Finished!" John concluded triumphantly, looking over his perfectly dug hole.

The boys stopped digging and looked at John in surprise. The fastest digger in the camp was Zero, and he'd only finished three feet of his hole.

"It's only been 2 hours, man. You can't be finished diggin'." Armpit chuckled.

"It had to be 5 feet deep and five feet in diameter." X-Ray said from afar.

John looked at X-Ray blankly.

"Do you know what _diameter_ means?" X-Ray jeered.

"No. But I finished. Look!"

X-Ray walked over to John and his "finished" hole.

"WHAT THE FREAKING HELL?"

"Don't say bad words."

Squid looked up. "Why you buggin' out, X-Ray?"

"The Freak dug the fucking weirdest hole ever!"

The boys went over to check out all the commotion, even Zero.

"That's one weird dude," said Zigzag again.

"Honey, that's not a hole,"Armpit said, peering over everyone's shoulder.

"Yes it is!"

"No. A Hole in this place is a 5 by 5 foot... _hole thing_." Armpit pointed to the abomination that John had dug, "_That's_ something you put a dead body in."

As readers, you might have guessed what the hole John had dug looked like.

A grave.

It was wide at one end, and got narrower at the other end, so an average size coffin would perfectly fit in it.

"Mom's gonna wig out when he sees this." Squid said.

Speak of the Devil…

A distant rumbling of an engine, and a cloud of dust could be seen coming towards them.

The water truck had come.

John crossed his arms.

"What's wrong with my hole? I finished!" he repeated.

The water truck pulled up beside the perimeter of the boys' digging site and Pendanski stepped out of the front seat.

For once he wasn't smiling.

John rushed to the water truck with childish giddiness and shouted;

"Me first!"

X-Ray grabbed John's arm and pulled him back.

"You see, New Guy, we gots a little system here. I am in the front of the water line. Magnet is second, and everyone else goes behind us in order."

He dragged John to the end of the line behind Zero.

"And _you're _in the back of the line. Understand?"

John cast his eyes down and nodded sadly.

For a second, the angry expression on Zero's face took a moment of pity, but it returned to the cold frown that he always wore.

"Are we ready, your highness?" Pendanski droned.

"Yes sir." X-Ray smiled and took his bottle back after Pendanski had filled it.

When it was John's turn, Pendanski refused to look at him.

He filled the water bottle and handed it to John with his head turned away.

"Thank you, Mr. Midas."

Pendanski winced as he said this, but uttered not one word.

"Mom, take a look at what John did." Squid said, pointing to the elongated grave hole.

Pendanski reluctantly walked over and gasped like a little girl when he saw the phenomenal hole.

"Sweet Jesus!"

"Thou shalt not say the Lord's name in vain." John said, as if reciting what someone else had told him.

Armpit laughed.

"How did he manage to dig all of this by himself?" Pendanski gawked.

"Why don't you ask him." Magnet said.

Pendanski frowned.

He did not want to even look at John.

Although he was ashamed to say it, John frightened him.

"_Your wife, she misses you."_

In spite of this,Pendanski turned to face his fear...  
His short, mentally challenged, childish, innocent fear.

"John, you know that the holes are not supposed to look like this, right?"

John said nothing.

"Didn't Mr. Sir tell you that the holes are supposed to be 5 by 5 feet?"

Still, John said nothing.

"I want you to start again." Pendanski said coldly.

"Why?"

"Because you are doing it wrong. Start again." he said with no expression.

"But I fin---"

"START AGAIN!"

John jumped back and squealed.

Armpit laughed again, obviously clueless of what was going on.

The other boys squinted and stared at Pendanski in shock.

"Mom, you okay?" X-Ray asked.

Pendanski laughed lightly, but now even Armpit could see the phoniness in pendanski's laughter..

"Get back to work."

Muttering to themselves, the boys went back to digging their holes whilst John made an attempt to start a new hole.

-

"Hey, Freak!"

John looked up and was ambushed by a spray of sand in his face.

It stung his eyes and he covered them with his hands and squealed in pain.

Squid had kicked sand in John's face.

"Let's have a little chat."

John was still wiping his eyes.

"I h-have to --- I have to dig my hole. Bye Bye Squid. Bye-bye."

Squid took out the toothpick in his mouth and replaced it with another one he had kept in his pocket.

"You've been causin' lots of trouble around here."

"Bye Bye Squid. I have to d-dig my hole now."

Squid sighed.

"Can I at least tell you something without having to tell you to shut up?"

John stopped rubbing his eyes and looked angrily at Squid.

"You hurt my eyes!"

"I don't care, little boy."

"Why did you do that?" John said, beginning to cry.

"Look! We don't want to cause you no trouble. And we don't want YOU to be causin' trouble for us, either."

"I can't see."

"You know, we've never seen Mom act that way before---"

"I can't see."

_"Will you shut up and listen?"_

"Squid, help me, I can't see!"

John was crying, and hot tears pooled around his puffed-up eyes.

Squid chewed on his toothpick and waved a hand in front of John's face. John didn't seem to notice.

"Yo, Freak, are you okay?"

John outstretched his arms as if to find out if something was out there.

"I can't see! I can't see! Please, Squid, find me, I can't see!"

"I'm right here, stupid. In front of you."

"Where is everyone!" John screamed.

ZigZag stopped digging.

"I can't see anything!"

Armpit and Magnet stopped digging.

"Please, someone take it out!"

John began staggering around with his arms outstretched, tripping over his own shoes.

"Take the Black out! Take it out! I can't see!"

Zero stopped digging, but stood there.

They _all_ just stood there, watching John run around in circles crying his face off.

"It's so black! Take the Black out! Take the Black out!"

It was unexpected and quick.

He tripped over the laces of his boots and crashed face-first onto the dusty ground.

He didn't move.

Zigzag walked over and poked John with the blade of his shovel.

"Hey, are you dead?"

John still didn't move.

Zigzag bent over and began poking him with his forefinger.

"Yo, wake up, little Freakazoid. You have to finish digging your hole."

John was as still as a corpse.

Armpit walked over and grabbed John's wrist.

"I saw people do this on T.V."

Pretending he knew what he was doing, Armpit used his thumb to check for a pulse in John's wrist.

"Oh ma Gawd! He's dead man!"

-

"What!" Everyone said at once.

"I can't feel the pulse thing on his hand!"

Zero came over and bent down beside Armpit.

He looked at everyone angrily.

"He's not dead, stupid."

Armpit crossed his arms, trying to hide his surprise of hearing Zero talk.

"Yeah, he is! I know because there ain't no pulse on his hand."

Zero rolled his eyes, which cracked the stone-hard expression on his face.

"That's because you're doing it wrong."

Zero pointed at John's chest.

"He's still breathing, you fucking moron."

There were_ Oooooos _from the boys.

Armpit, who was not the kind to argue very long (because he always lost), gave up and shrugged.

"Whateva. So what do we do, then?"

Zero didn't know.

No one did.

They were in the middle of the desert with no supervision.

"Well…one or more of us will have to walk to the nearest digging site and get another councilor to bring him back to camp." Zero said.

X-Ray glared.

He did not like being the ignored one. _He_ was the leader, and he wished he had thought of that.

John blinked.

"Hey look! The Freak moved."

John turned his head around, and his face was smeared with dust on the left side.

Three of the boys had gone back to digging.

"You okay, amigo?" Magnet asked.

John sat up and dusted himself as if nothing had happened.

"You need any help?"

John looked around, his eyes still red and puffy from the sand.

"I'm going to finish my hole now."

Zero had a strange look in his face before his dug the last foot of his hole.

He knew something wasn't supposed to happen. He felt as though a piece of a puzzle was out of place, but he couldn't figure it out.

Everyone went back to digging.

"Did any of them come yet?" John asked.

"Who?" X-Ray asked.

"You know, _them._"

"I don't know what you mean, little man. Who are you talkin' about?"

"_Themmm_!" John answered as if X-Ray had asked the stupidest question. "Did any of them come yet?"

X-Ray just shook his head in poty and continued digging.

John pouted and out his hands on his hips.

"Hmm…but one of them came and 'axed me to make a bed for them…"

X-Ray shook his head, disgusted by the nonsense coming out of the boy's mouth.

"No…NO, Little man. No one came and asked for a damn bed."

John looked confused.

"But he AXED me politely. He even said please... He said, 'Please, John make a bed for me. I'm really tired'."

X-Ray ignored him and continued digging.

John glanced doubtfully at his grave-shaped hole.

"Do you think the bed is not good enough?"

X-Ray pretended not to hear, but John went on.

"'Cause you know, if I don't dig the bed deep enough, they sometimes get mad. Silent people are very grouchy."

He looked over to his recently-finished hole that everyone seemed to dislike so much.

He walked over to the 7-foot long grave and smoothed out the sides of it with his shovel.

He looked to his right, as if someone was there, and began talking to the invisible force beside him.

"Is this good enough for you, Peter Pan?" John said.

There was a silence, and then John nodded slowly at the "thing" beside him.

"What's he doing?" Magnet asked Zigzag.

"He's talking to some guy named Peter Pan…" Zigzag stated, as if he knew everything.

"I know that, but what the hell is he DOING?"

John took his shovel and began filling his Grave hole with dirt.

"What are you doing?" asked Magnet.

John smiled and looked up.

Oh…I'm just helping Peter Pan get to sleep. I'm covering up his bed so no one can bother him."

"Whoa. He's stupid _and_ crazy."

But… there was something terribly wrong with this whole thing.

Zero was the only one who noticed it.

"Hey, you guys…"

Everyone looked in Zero's direction.

"Don't you remember Peter Pan?"

Everyone was silent.

Zigzag raised his hand stupidly.

"Ooh! I know! Pick me!"

"Yes you, with the bad wig." Zero said.

"He was some weird dude who was in D-tent."

Looks of realization came upon the boys' faces.

"Do you remember what happened to him?" Zero asked slowly, as if talking to small children.

"Don't you remember the guy who broke his neck?"

Everyone was silent.

They remembered Peter Pan…

--------------------------------

Five months ago, a boy named Peter Hoffman was charged for destruction of public property and thievery after he had set all of the birds free in the Bird House of Newton Public Zoo.

Thinking Camp Greenlake was better than jail (which is your opinion), he decided to spend 20 months digging holes.

He was a nice boy, who shared his water with someone who ran out, or who helped people when they needed help…

Peter had an obsession.

Every day after digging holes, he would use his energy to run back and forth though the pathway with his arms spread out beside him, like wings.

He was practicing.

Practicing for the special day he would show everyone that humans could fly.

At night he would be making wings out of stolen sheets he had sneaked out of the laundry room.

Though Peter was popular amongst the other boys, they thought he was a psychotic looser who needed a life…

The councilors, being councilors and all, tried to persuade him to stop his acts and learn that people cannot fly.

Hence the name Peter Pan.

One night, he had woken everyone in his tent and told them he was going to fly that day.

"It's a full moon. It's the perfect time for miracles." He said in a spooky voice.

The other boys had laughed, thinking he was joking.

Peter took out his artificial "wings" from under his bed and told them he was going to be rich.

The boys sleepily followed Peter, as he lead them to the Warden's cabin.

"what the hell are you doing, Pan? You gonna get in trouble!" said Spikes, the bossy one.

Amazingly, Peter managed to climb up to the top of the warden's roof, which was only a few meters high. He positioned himself at the right place and spread his "wings".

"Pan, DON'T!"

He jumped.

And Peter was right. A miracle had happened.

He flew!

The gigantic cotton wings which were twice Peter's size had carried him up into the air about 3 meters higher than the roof!

"Look! I told you! I told you I could----"

_SNAP!_

The wooden skeleton of his left 'wing' had broken.

Peter felt him self falling.

He felt his heart drop to his stomach.

He felt a windy rush as he descended onto the hard ground.

He felt his hair being swept upwards as he fell head first onto the ground.

Then he felt nothing.

------------------------

"There wasn't even no funeral. His parents told the Warden they didn't want anything to do with him. So the camp got permission to cremate the guy." Zero said silently.

"What's 'cremate' mean?" Magnet asked.

"It means they burn your dead body so you don't have to get an expensive funeral to bury the body." Zero said.

"So where did they put the ashes, then?"

Zero's eyes looked distant.

"They swept them out into the wind in the desert. His ashes are like, everywhere now."

All of the boys glanced at John, who was still filling up Peter Pan's new 'bed'.

X-Ray just stared wide-eyed.

"I think we got ourselves a Bruce Willis horror film."


	7. Annabelle Told Me

**Voila, the next chapter...**

**The next one will not be for the squeamish,I must warn you. But something happens in it that you readers must sadly know about.**

**The twitch"n"witch: I didn't really get your first review, but it was cute. Why are you huffing and puffing? Nm...lol...I'm glad you like my story.  
Jessica L: Hey, thanks.  
Lilmizzrebel31: I kind of made Zero kind of more than a leader in this story. It will soon make X-Ray jealous, I guess. I e-mailed you. Please hurry up and reply because i can't wait to hear your ideas. You're a good writer.  
TyraLeMa: How come you like this story a lot, and in my other one you said it truly sucked and I should slit my wrists? It was really mean what you said in my last one, or was it you?  
TeaCat: Creepy is good. Me like creepy. But if you don't like the sheding of blood that much, i suggest you prepare for the next chapter, or not read it altogether. But I must tell you the last chapter is sort of the climax and I tried to make it as unexpected as I could.  
**

* * *

7

X-Ray was almost finished with his hole. Zero, Squid, and ZigZag had already finished, and had retreated back to the campgrounds.

Surprisingly, John was closer to finishing his hole than everyone else.

"Freak." X-Ray mumbled so quietly only he could hear.

John climbed out of his hole with great effort and smiled brightly.

"Okay. THIS TIME I'm finished!"

John was beginning to walk away when X-Ray spoke.

"You forgot to spit in it." X-Ray said in a low, incoherent voice.

"What?"

"I said… you forgot to spit in it."

John looked at X-Ray, then at his finished hole, then at X-Ray again.

"Oh." He said.

He followed the example of Squid's hawking and spitting in the hole, and made an awkward attempt to spit like a man. It fell in a long line from his mouth to the ground and couldn't seem to detach itself. X-Ray sneered, and everyone else just laughed. Zero did nothing but continue digging.

Before he left, John turned around slowly with a curious exression on his face.

John's voice became hollow again…

"Where's Stanley?"

X-Ray finished the last bit of his hole, and measured it.

"Who's Stanley?" X-Ray asked, not looking at John.

"You know…..Stanley!" John said, getting impatient.

"Sorry. I don't know about no Stanley in Camp Greenlake."

"You don't know anyone named Stanley Yelnats?"

X-Ray shook his head.

"Sorry, man. Try asking the other tents and see if _they_ have a 'Stanley'."

"B-but…Annabelle told me that there's a Stanley here. She asked for him. She says Stanley's important."

X-Ray grew frustrated.

"There's no 'Stanley', a'aight? There's no Annabelle here either."

John furrowed his brow.

"Yes there is."

X-Ray spat into his holes and picked up his shovel.

"No…No, Freakazoid. There's no Stanley here."

"But Annabelle said---"

"I don't----I don't want to hear any more about your bitch friend Annabelle."

John pushed X-Ray so hard it knocked him over.

"DON'T CALL HER THAT!"

X-Ray backed up a few inches and pushed John's hand away.

"Please don't touch me." X-Ray said in a soft voice, dusting off cooties that this abomination had given him. "No one touches X-Ray."

John sighed, picked up his own shovel and walked ahead of X-Ray.

"I'm gonna find Stanley Yelnats and tell him what you said." John said childishly and stormed off.

* * *

**---------------------------------------------------------------------**

**-----D-TENT-----**

The Wreck-Room buzzed with activity, as John sat motionless in D-Tent alone on his cot, smiling sleepily.

The tent flap opened, and Zigzag ran in screaming.

"Quick! Hide! HIDE!"

John's dazed eyes became focused as he stared curiously at Zigzag, who was hiding behind his cot and whimpering.

Pendanski came in with a broad smile on his face, carrying a syringe in one hand.

"Come on, Ricky." He said in a quiet voice, "I know you're in here."

John sat quietly on his cot.

"I know where he is!" John said.

Pendanski ignored him.

"Why do we have to go through this every day, Ricky? It only lasts for a few seconds. Then it's all over."

Pendanski walked slowly towards the cot Zigzag was hiding behind.

"You have to take your medication. Remember the last time you didn't take your medication?"

Ricky jumped up from behind the cot.

"You'll never get me alive!" he cried and ran out of the tent screaming.

Pendanski sighed and put the syringe temporarily onto a random crate, and he sat down on someone's cot.

John stood up casually and walked towards Pendanski.

"Why are you trying to not talk to me, Mr. Midas?"

Pendanski looked up for a split second and looked back down.

"Why do you say that, John?" Pendanski asked, although not being specific.

But John knew what he was talking about.

"Because I know."

"John, you don't know anything." Pendanski said cruelly.

Feeling unhurt, John plopped down onto the cot, making the cheap mattress bounce a little.

"What's that?" He pointed to the syringe on the crate.

"Oh…" Pendanski said in a bored tone. "It's Ricky's medication. If he doesn't get his shots everyday, Ricky tends to get a little…wild."

John seemed to be pensive about something.

"I can give it to him." John said. "I can give Zigzag his medicine."

Pendanski laughed.

"Let's see you try."

John smiled.

"Okay." He stood up and picked up the plastic syringe.

He held the object in front of his face and twisted the needle with his pointer finger and thumb.

"Needles are sharp." He said hollowly.

"Yes, and that's why you shouldn't be playing with it. Give it here." Pendanski reached for the syringe in John's hand.

But John backed away.

"No…I said I will give it to him." he said, and pouted.

Pendanski sighed. "Alright. You seem so confident. But I doubt you will get him to come 50 feet from you. If you can't give it to him, come back and give it to me, okay?"

John smiled again.

"Okay."

John covered the needle with its plastic cap and walked happily out of the tent.

------

**FOUR MINUTES LATER:**

John came back with an empty, plastic needle in his left hand.

He handed it to a surprised Dr. Pendanski.

"All done!" John said cheerfully, and skipped out of the tent.

Pendanski stared at the empty syringe in his hand, and then at John in shock.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**-----1 HOUR LATER-----**

John walked into F-Tent, where Dr. Pendanski was writing notes.

"Hya!" he said cheerfully.

Pendanski jolted with surprise, causing his pen to swerve make a writing mistake.

"What'cha doing?" John grinned and sat next to Pendanski.

"You're not supposed to go in the councilor's tent without permission, John."

"But Annabelle told me to ask you about Stanley."

Pendanski sighed.

_Here we go again._

"John, we _both_ know Annabelle is just another version of you, your own imagination. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

John pouted and crossed his arms.

"No!" He retorted. "Annabelle's real! We _both_ know Annabelle is real." He said, mimicking what Pendanski had said.

Pendanski sighed and returned to writing notes.

John clapped his hands out of boredom.

"Newspaper."

Pendanski looked up.

"What?"

"Annabelle says look in the newspaper."

"The newspaper?"

"Yeah. The newspaper for yesterday."

Pendanski got up and took the state tabloid from the crate.

"What does your 'friend' Annabelle want me to do with this newspaper."

John laughed.

"To find Stanley, of course!"

Pendanski didn't even know why he was doing this. It wasn't Annabelle who was doing this! It was John! John made up the character Annabelle in his mind…right?

He opened the gray-colored tabloid.

"Page three" said John, as if he had already read the whole newspaper.

Pendanski turned to page three with the shuffling of paper.

There on the headlines read:

-

**May 5, 2005**

**BOY DIES FALLING INTO A HOLE**

14-year old Stanley Yelnats died in a strange incident involving a six-foot hole dug just beside the sidewalk.

The ironic tale also involves the donated shoes of Clyde Livingston.

Stanley Yelnats was reported to have stolen the shoes from the shelter that baseball player Clyde Livingston had donated to. Stanley then ran for his life towards home with the sneakers in his hands. He must have tripped over a hole without looking to see where he was going.

He supposedly tripped, fell head first into it, and broke his neck in the unbelievingly shallow hole.

The hole was designed in a shape of a grave. Neighbors had unanimously reported that the holes have been dug by a neighborhood boy who was not in jail.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is irony.

-

Pendanski stared shocked as John yet again performed another so-called "miracle".

Could John have read the newspaper when no one was around?

He looked at the date on the front page.

It was the same date that John was sent to Camp Greenlake.

"What---When did you---How could this be?"

John looked sadly at his shoes.

"Annabelle said _he_ was supposed to be here instead of me."

Pendanski turned his head, wide-eyedand speechlessat his strange D-Tenter.

"She said Stanley was supposed to be here instead."

John scratched his right arm with his left hand.

"Sh-she says **_I_** was the one who was supposed to go to Sleep…"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**-----WRECK ROOM-----**

"There he is now. The Freakazoid." One of the A-Tenters whispered to another as John skipped cheerfully into the Wreck Room.

The D-Tent members hid their faces in shame as some of the other boys pointed tauntingly at them, and then at John.

Zigzag and Zero glared at the other boys.

"If I catch you saying one thing about him, I'm gonna make sure your nose isn't in the middle of your face anymore." Zigzag said to one of the A-Tenters.

All of them laughed.

"Oh deary me! I am so _very_ frightened! Help, mummy, **help**!"

Zero rolled his eyes.

_Moron._

John skipped beside Zero and Zigzag with a smile on his face.

He turned to the six A-Tenters and frowned.

"It's rude to stare." he said.

"_It's rude to stare." _One of them mimicked.

A boy from A-Tent with a scar on the left side of his face sneered at John.

Suddenly John smiled.

"It's also rude to dress in girl's clothes."

The boy with the scar stopped laughing, and his face looked a bit pale.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything, loser?" he growled.

"It has to do with _you_, Silly!" John laughed lightheartedly as if Scar had asked the stupidest question. "Annabelle told me you have girl's clothes in your bag and you try them on when no one's looking."

The other boys of A-Tent looked confused.

Scar licked his dry lips.

"You know, boy. You've been sayin' a lot of strange shit ever since you came here. If you don't stop I'm gonna eventually kick yer ass."

John's head tilted curiously to one side.

"Why would you want to do that?'

Scar licked his lips nervously again,

"Because I can."

John laughed cheerfully again, not understanding anything Scar was imposing.

"Well you can try, because it will be very hard to do that in a skirt."

Scar shook his head.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

John laughed. "I MEAN…it will be very hard to kick my butt with a skirt on."

Everyone watching expected Scar to punch him. But instead he grabbed John by the collar and whispered roughly in his ear.

"I don't want you to EVER say shit like that again. You hear?"

John nodded.

"Whatever, Girliepants!" He giggled childishly and skipped out of the Wreck Room.

The A-tent boys, and the D-Tent boys looked at Scar with surprise.

"Oh my God." said X-Ray, almost laughing.

"You guys better check your friend's bags. He might be hiding some lethal weapons in there." X-Ray shouted to the blushing A-Tent boys.

"Yeah! Like nylon stockings!" Armpit joined in.

Everyone who heard it laughed.

Scar swore and ran out of the cabin.

-

A few minutes later everyone in the Wreck Room heard a scream that was cut short.

Most of them ran out to see what it was.

Then they saw it.

"Jesus Christ!" said a voice from the crowd.

"Holy shit!" said another.

They all gaped open-mouthed at the hideous sight before them.


	8. Fear 'PART I'

**Well, here's chapter 9 FINALLY...**

**---------------**

**Anyways, I was kind of afraid to post this chapter because:  
A) It's in _Pendanski's _point of view  
B) Some readers might not like what happens in this chapter. But its allhappening for a reason, I'll tell you that.**

**Please enjoy and leave a tip on your way out.**

* * *

9

"Is that…?"

A rich, thick trail of blood was smeared onto the dirt starting from the front of the Wreck room to behind the tents further on into the night.

It was like something was being dragged across the sand, spreading its sinister crimson smudges across the perimeter.

A crowd of boys stood bunched up at the doorway, gaping at the path of human entrails and blood around the camp grounds.

There was a voice behind the multitude of boys compressed at the doorway and the crowd parted.

"What in God's name is going on?" Pendanski exclaimed crossly as the crowd of boys parted ways in order for him to get through.

"Sweet Jesus…" said the short, cautious man as a pale hand covered his mouth slowly.

"What the hell _is_ that, Dr. Pendanski?" asked a small shadow from the cold pack of boys at the door.

"I-I don't know…. I …." His voice trailed off into the air as his head snapped quickly into the direction of everyone watching.

The sharp, sparse brambles of fear trickled painfully up his spine.

"Where's John?" He asked into the darkness.

No one answered.

"Will someone please ANSWER ME, God dammit!"

A small orange lump from the crowd spoke up.

"We…we saw him skippin' out of here just a few seconds before the scream."

Pendanski's eyes scanned the area nervously, and then pointed at the thick, chunky trail of crimson.

Blood soup.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?"

Some boys were drawn back at Pendanski's sudden outburst.

Someone started to cry. He was immediately shushed by someone else in the crowd.

Everyone was frightened and Pendanski could feel it.

All thought drained from his face and the concept of rational thought was impossible to achieve.

"We---" His voice squeaked and he cleared his throat, "We need the Warden. Someone go get the Warden."

No one moved.

"NOW, PLEASE!"

Two boys scurried from the doorway of the Wreck room and ran towards the direction of the cabin.

He felt dizzy. Cold sweat sprouted in beads around his forehead and upper lip.

_Where is John? _

The other boys were still standing there, motionless with shock.

Most of them were staring wide-eyed at the Blood Soup.

"Oh my God, I think that's a heart..." One boy pointed to the thick, trailing mass as a reddish lump lay somewhere in the liquid tracks.

Another boy leaned over the railing of the veranda and threw up.

The sound was sickening.

_Where is John?_

Did this have to do with what John had said earlier that day?

_Annabelle told me Stanley was supposed to be here instead of me…_

No.

He couldn't think of the anonymous Stanley Yelnats at a time like this.

Stanley Yelnats was some loser who fell into a hole and died!

He had to find John.

Pendanski prepared to leave, when a boy from E-Tent, who was nicknamed for his quietness, stepped forward. His name was Mute.

"Please, Mr. Pendanski," he said. "Right before we all heard the scream, we saw Scar run out. I guess he went to chase after John."

"Why would he want to do that?" Pendanski asked, surprised by the boy's politeness.

Mute's eyes were cast down. "John said something to upset him, sir."

_Where IS John?_

"You boys just go back and pretend _nothing_ happened. UNDERSTAND?"

Another boy laughed nervously, almost psychotically.

"How do you expect us to pretend nothing happened when someone's guts are making a path on our front yard?" he asked.

"I just……I DON'T KNOW, OKAY!" Pendanski held up his hands in frustration. "The _grown ups_ will handle this."

Most of the boys have already gone inside.

When he felt as though he could leave, Pendanski darted after the trail of human mortality.

The trail of blood seemed to go one forever, following the patterns of the cracks in the ground, already creating reservoirs in the sand crevices.

Once in a while he saw an organ, or red lump of some sort amidst the blood.

He felt like emptying his stomach of all its contents, but instead swallowed and kept on.

After scores of meters away from the camp, the trail grew thinner and thinner, the pattern becoming more and more sparse.

It was almost relieving.

Up ahead, he could see the trail end.

He sprinted towards it and saw the blood trail had ended at the edge of the many annonymous holes of Camp Greenlake.

_A hole?_

He peered over the dark opening to see what malevolent evil was lurking in the darkness of a meager 5-foot hole.

"Hello?" He asked stupidly into the dark hole.

Nothing moved. Nothing stirred. Nothing made a sound.

He didn't want to go in there. For some reason he was afraid something would literally leap out of the shadows and chomp his head off…

_Flashlight…_

"I need a flashlight."

He got up and ran as quickly as he could to F-Tent, where he had a flashlight stored somewhere in his crate.

Almost in an irrational panic, his trembling fingers searched through his crate in the darkness.

His hands found a cylindrical object and he brought it close to his face.

Now with the flashlight, he ran out of the tent and back to the hole where the trail of blood ended.

Pendanski sat next to the edge of the hole and flicked the switch of the flashlight.

Nothing happened.

He flicked it again.

Still, no light.

"Shit!" He cried, surprised at his own verbal profanity.

He shook the flashlight violently, and then flicked the switch again.

This time there was a flickering light, and the flashlight exploded with white brightness.

Peering over the dark hole once again, he stuck out his hand and shone the light into it.

"N-n-n-n-no…" He said, his voice was small and hoarse.

Words could not describe the fear, agony, nausea after what he had seen.

Words just couldn't describe...

"John…"

No. it wasn't John. It couldn't have been.

Could it?

The cold sweat was now pouring profusely from his pores and dripped off of his large nose.

He felt like screaming, but couldn't even bring himself to move.

First his wife…and now…

"No…"

John, or what was left of John, was sprawled at the bottom of the hole.

The stomach area was ripped open and the trail of blood ended there, in his abdomen.

John's once peaceful eyes were now closed into its final slumber. His hands were fisted tightly as if he was trying to withstand great pain.

Was he killed here?

No. The trail of blood was thickest at the camp.

He must have been killed near the Wreck room, and then dragged to a chosen hole.

What person would have thought he could be rid of the body by dumping it into a hole, yet leaving an easy trail to follow?

And how could he have been killed so quickly and dragged here in a short period of time?

He felt sick.

Pendanski could no longer hold the flashlight, and it dropped into the hole on a bloody puddle with a tiny splash.

Why?

Why was this happening to him?

Why is this form of death so infamous in his life?

His wife had died almost the same way. And he began to remember.

For a moment, the coldness, the fear, the confusion was gone as the power of memory enveloped his every being…

"_Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...Happy birthday, Dianne, happy Birthday to you!"_

**Walter Pendanski stepped lightly into the bedroom with a gigantic cake in his arms.**

(Walter is the nerdiest name I could come up with. This may be highly unlikely, but I apologize deeply if your name is Walter. )

**Dianne Pendanski was propped up on the bed and smiling brightly.**

**She was contentedly patting her stomach, which was cradling a baby due in one month.**

**So, in fact, there were two things to celebrate.**

"**You didn't have to get such a big cake, Walter. There's only the two of us."**

"**And soon there will be one more," he said, and Dianne looked lovingly at her now bulging stomach.**

**It was May 5th, Dianne's birthday. **

"**Walter…" she said with a forced frown upon her delicate features. "Where are my white roses?"**

**Walter smiled in realization.**

"**Oh…I left them in the kitchen. Just wait, I'll go get them."**

**Very faintly, Walter heard a faint scratching noise. This flew past his consciousness, but it bothed Dianne. it bothered her very much. **

**Dianne's happy face turned suddenly pale. **

"**No…please stay." She looked nervous for some reason. "I don't want to be alone."**

**Pendanski laughed. "Sweetheart, I'm just going to get you the roses you asked for. Besides, you didn't mind when I left to get you the birthday cake, right?"**

**Walter Pendanski disappeared out of the doorway.**

**Immature, it was…for grown adults to celebrate but a birthday in such a childish way…**

**The white roses were sitting beautifully in a fragile vase on the kitchen counter. **

**He went over to pick them up.**

"**There they are----"**

**Someone screamed.**

**Almost as if the world had gone in slow motion, his fingers loosened and the vase of white roses had dropped with a deafening crash.**

"**Dianne?"**

**No one answered.**

**Walter ran towards the bedroom and stopped abruptly at the doorway.**

"**Dianne!"**

**One the bed, where his wife was just laid upon two minutes ago, there was a puddle of blood amongst the sheets.**

**From the puddle, there was a trail of blood that looked as if something was being dragged from it.**

**The smudging of blood led out of the open window, that shone cheerful light into the now gloomy room.**

"**D-Dianne?"**

**He followed the trail out the window and then followed it into the back yard.**

**There was something in the back yard that wasn't there before.**

**A hole.**

**A rather large hole that was 5 feet in diameter, and as he got closer, he saw it was also five feet deep.**

**Slowly approaching the hole, Walter was afraid that he would find what he didn't want to.**

**Closer…**

**Closer…**

"**Please God, no…."**

**I'm sorry to say that Dianne, in fact _was _there.**

**Dianne was there, but her child was not.**

**Her stomach was the source of the escaping blood, for it had been opened.**

**The baby was gone, as if torn away from its mother's ripped womb.**

**The baby was gone.**

**Dianne was gone.**

**And so was all sense that existed in Walter's world…**

* * *

_TheTwitch"n"Witch: Hey...um...how. are. you? Okay, after I read your review I felt really bad so please forgive me!  
Lilmizzrebel31: Now that I know what a spork is, I have decided that they are evil. Yes, evil. One day sporks will rise from the ashes and kill us all...RUN BEFORE ITS TOO LATE! RUN, I TELL YOU!  
TeaCat: Well, I don't think I'll be able to answer your question until around chapter 11. But it's kind of a weird story, so you might get a weird answer.  
ArwenEvenstar83: Ohhh! So many questions! Some of them will be answered here. Some of them will be answered later because I am a cruel 14-year old who likes to make people ask questions.  
Nicole13-1991: Well, I'm glad you liked my last chapter. And I like leaving readers hanging there because...I am evil. MUHAHAHAHA! (-choke-choke-)  
Nosilla: The answer to thy question: Actually, it already kind of has been answered. I am putting more into the story little by little. John talks to people who are already dead, he can foretell the future, he knows things about people even when they haven't told anyone...So Annabelle is just one of John's "friends". (Remember chapter 1?)_


	9. Fear 'PART II'

**Counting down the days to Christmas. Damn. You know, that's the worst thing about living in a strictly Muslim country: other religions are just considered a waste of time. Imagine having less than a week of Christmas holidays.**

**_-_**

**9**

The memory evaporated… and Pendanski was once more in the darkness in front of the hole that contained what Pendanski thought would never become real again.

But there he was, in front of a 5 foot deep, 5 foot wide hole with a dead little boy inside it.

"Please, no…" he repeated over and over again.

He peered over the hole to be greeted by the horrible vision that had haunted his dreams for many years. He whimpered to himself as he got up once again and jumped into the hole without realizing what he had done.

His shoes came down into the hole with a thick, yet slightly mute splash.

He picked up the flashlight that he had dropped earlier, rusted with blood, and he began to absentmindedly turn the switch on and off...

The strange feeling was almost gone now, and his thoughts fell numb. Dead.

As if in a dream, he felt himself climb out of the hole slowly, whilst reaching up with his stubby arms, and then walk slowly towards the Warden's cabin.

When he reached the camp, he heard a strong female voice announcing something in the Wreck room. That meant the Warden must have left her office and was now in talking to the boys.

Pendanski slowed his pace and walked up the steps leading to the Wreck Room.

From inside, he heard;

"Alright everybody just stop talking for a minute! You're giving me a migraine…"

That was definitely the Warden!

There came another voice, a younger boy's voice as Pendanski walked nearer to the Wreck Room;

"But someone _died_. How do you fucking expect us to stop talking about it?"

There was a slow clonking of boots upon the wooden flooring of the Wreck room, which might have been the Warden stepping forward to the direction of the defying boy…

"Excuse me? Did you just…." There was a clearing of the throat. "…swear at me?"

"N-no, ma'am. I'm just saying that we can't just sit here and do nothing. We have to find out _why_ that pile of _shit_ is out there!"

"Excuse me?"

Pendanski paused, unsure whether to step into the building or not. So he just stayed there, listening to the arguing voices.

"I-I mean…"

"If you swear in front of me one more time, you're gonna realize one morning that your nose isn't in the middle of your face anymore!"

Someone gulped loudly.

Then another boy's voice, this one was recognizable. Pendanski knew it very well;

"Why do you care more about swearing than another person's guts on the floor?"

The clonking of the Warden's boots against the wooden floor once again bit into the silence of the night.

"Well, X-Ray. Since you seem to know more than me about how to run this camp, why don't _you_ go ahead and make the plans yourself?"

There was a silence.

"I didn't think so." The Warden said softly.

"Now, is anyone missing?"

Again, no one answered.

"No one?"

Pendanski was controlled by fear as his own feet 'walked' him into the scene against his own will.

The Warden turned around. Her face, being the only one that was smiling, greeted him coldly.

"Ah, Dr. Pendanski! Come inside."

Pendanski slowly walked into the Wreck room where all of the boys were either sprawled on a chair, or the sofa, or on the floor.

Mr. Sir was standing with his hands smugly behind his back beside the Warden.

No one moved.

The Warden stared at Pendanski expectedly.

"Well, aren't you going to tell us all what you saw?"

Pendanski just stared.

"I'M WAITING!"

Pendanski stared ahead with no emotion.

"John is dead."

The room was quiet.

The Warden's pleasant smile disappeared.

"E-excuse me?"

"John is dead…I found him in one of the holes a few meters off from your cabin…"

The Warden's lip twitched, and her freckles stood out amidst her now-pale face.

"Y-you're lying!" she screamed.

Pendanski shook his head in disbelief.

"What? …No…I'm not lying."

…

"Yes you are."

"Go and check yourself." Pendanski threw the flashlight at the Warden and she caught it swiftly with one hand.

"I'll just take your word for it." She said, changing her mind quite quickly.

Pendanski, along with Mr. Sir and the other boys just gazed in bewilderment at the crazed woman with the bloody flashlight.

"Wow, the Bitch has more problems than _you_, Zigzag…" came an audible whisper from the boys.

The Warden's head snapped around so quickly no one had time to blink.

"WHO SAID THAT?"

No one answered.

The Warden waved the red-smeared flashlight around the air like it was a flag.

"Do you see this?" She asked, swinging the flashlight from side to side from its cord.

"_This _is the result of violence, and…" She took her index finger and wiped some blood from the flashlight with her polished index finger and showed it to everyone.

"…and lack of _character_."

The Warden turned her head slowly to Pendanski. She stared tiredly, with a cold expression on her face.

"Walter, you look like a mess….Go clean yourself up." She pointed to the water spigot outside

Pendanski blinked in disbelief.

"W-what?"

"I said--"

"But, excuse me, _Miss Walker._, but I don't think this is the right time for—"

"Excuse me?"

"WE NEED TO GET REINFORCEMENTS FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE BESIDES THIS AREA!"

The Warden laughed nervously, yet confidently.

"_Reinforcements?_" She laughed again. "What makes you think the government will--"

"If you just let me explain, Louise--"

"THAT'S _MISS. _WALKER, TO YOU, IMPUDENT MAN!"

" I'm sure of that, but you have to know--"

"Excuse me?"

"Jerry is gone."

For once, the Warden did not argue back with the high-pitched fire she always had.

"Excuse me?"

"Jerry was the last one seen with John." Pendanski rubbed his eyes frustratingly. "I think Jerry is responsible for what happened to John."

The Warden looked at Pendanski dubiously.

"What does Scar have to do with this situation?"

A gust of biting wind interrupted Pendanski's answer.

Just then, as if the Devil had personally come to visit, a shadow loomed menacingly at the dory.

All eyes turned to the strange form of enigma as it rested in its place.

"Who's there?"

The gloomy silhouette stepped into the light of the Wreck room.

Everyone felt a wave of relief.

It was only one of the boys who Pendanski had seen that stepped out of the "meeting" of the Wreck room after asking to go to the bathroom.

The boy was known for his unkempt curls which stuck out in every direction. Now it was plastered onto his scalp by a tremendous amount of sweat. His orange jumpsuit was smudged with dust.

He didn't look as bad as Pendanski, but the sight of him would make anyone fear of a frightening foreshadowing.

The boy opened his mouth, and closed it again.

"Well…SPEAK, BOY!" The Warden spat.

The boy cleared his throat, and spoke.

"There's something wrong with Scar."

Scar, otherwise known as _Jerry_, was also no accounted for in the Wreck room.

The Warden turned to the boys of A-Tent andf glared at them..

"And no one decided to tell me that Scar is not with you?"

Then she looked at the D-Tent juveniles sitting quietly at the sofa.

"And YOU didn't bother to tell me about your _John_ being missing?"

Neither of the groups of boys answered.

The Warden curved her attention back to the boy at the doorway.

"What do you mean there's something wrong with Scar?"

The boy wiped sweat from his brow with his sleeve.

"He's in one of the bathroom stalls. He keeps crying and murmuring things……I told him to come out, but he doesn't want to open the door."

The Warden looked at Pendanski.

""So you think Jerry has something to do with your John?" She swiped her nails across the shirt and looked at them proudly.

"Well, now's your chance to find out."

--

**THE STORY:**

The boy who was standing at the doorway earlier led Pendanski to the stall of bathrooms .

"He's in the crapper," said the boy, as he turned his heels and went back to the Wreck room.

Pendanski was again by himself.

There were sobs and indistinct murmuring coming from behind one of the stalls.

"Jerry?" Pendanski asked quietly.

The sobbing stopped abruptly.

"Jerry, I know you're in there. I heard you."

"It's not Jerry, okay? It' s _Scar_."

"Well, Scaaar; would you like to tell me what you saw…or what you…_did_?"

Suddenly the stall door opened with a _BANG _and Scar stepped out.

It was night, but the distinguished scar was the only feature visible in the darkness. It even seemed to glow as the heat of his anguish burned it like a lit cigarette.

"I didn't kill the bastard, if that's what you mean."

"I didn't say you did."

"Actually--"

"Jerry, I'm going to ask you a question and you better answer it!"

Scar just glared.

"What. Happened?" Pendanski asked in exhaustion.

Scar looked down at his feet and scratched his scalp nervously.

"I-I don't know. I was just…"

Scar sniffled.

"You were _what_?" asked Pendanski.

"I-I ran after him…and--"

"_I don't want you to EVER say shit like that again. You hear?"_

_John nodded._

"_Whatever, Girliepants!" John giggled childishly and skipped out of the Wreck Room._

_Scar swore and ran out of the cabin._

"…And I found him there, skipping around the place like he was some sort of psycho Little Red Riding Hood."

Scar paused again.

"..And?" Pendanski urged.

"Man, I wish I had a cigarette right now…" Scar said, and laughed at his own madness.

Pendanski reached into his pocket frantically and took out a small packet of Marlbro cigarettes. He opened it, took a cigarette out and lit it with his lighter.

"Here."

He handed it to Scar, who had an expression of amused surprise on his face.

"Holy shit, Doc! You smoke?"

" Just continue. What happened after that?"

Scar took the cigarette and took a long, luxurious drag out of it.

"I went over to him…and my hands were like, shaking, you know? I wanted so badly to beat the shit out of him."

"_Hey, fucker." Scar said with a forced grin. "Come here. I want to talk to you."_

_John stopped skipping around the tents happily, and looked at Scar like he was a deer trapped in the blaring gaze of a car's headlights._

_John ran._

"_Come over here, Freak! I just want to talk to you!"_

"Then I chased him around for a while, only for a few seconds, just to get the fear in his blood…"

Scar laughed again and brought the cigarette to his mouth.

_John tripped over his own feet and he fell on his face onto the dust._

_Scar caught up, bent over, and grabbed the collar of John's orange jumpsuit._

"_I don't know how you know about me, but I'm gonna make sure you never say **anything** again."_

_Scar pulled his fist back and pushed it into John's face…_

"I only got one punch in." he said. The cigarette was shaking in his trembling fingers.

Pendanski said nothing.

"Suddenly there was this bright light. It was the color of those cheap white fluorescent lights that people buy to 'conserve energy'. Except it was a lot brighter."

Pendanski took out a cigarette from the package and lit it for himself.

"…There were a lot of voices. There were so many of them I couldn't tell what any of them were saying. Some of them were screams. Some of them were sobbing, some of them were crying…."

Both of them took a drag at the same time and they both looked ahead into space as though they were both looking for something in their deep memory.

"…But there was this one voice that stood out on all the rest. It…it was a little girl's voice. She said--"

"_Stop it! Stop it! He doesn't belong to you!"_

_Scar released his grasp of John's collar and let him drop onto the ground._

_John bent over and clutched his stomach as though something was in there, ripping it from the inside._

_Scar stared in disbelief as the strange voices, the white light, John's pain …was absorbed into his mind._

_John began crying._

"He kept saying something was in his stomach…he kept saying that…"

"_Please, someone help me…" John's eyes turned up to meet with Scar's. _

"_Please, Girlypants. Help me!"_

_Scar couldn't move._

"…And then it happened…"

_There was a ripping BANG and the spraying of red dust in the air._

"_It's not supposed to be like this..." a little girl's voice kept saying over and over again._

_Scar looked down in horror as he saw John's body sprawled on the floor._

_Blood was sprayed in droplets and small puddles all around and John's orange jumpsuit was now dappled in red._

_The bright light disappeared and there was just the two of them again._

_Scar just stared with his mouth unable to close... neither could his eyes._

_He was afraid to look down, so he kept his gaze upwards, into the comforting stars..._

"When I finally looked back down, the guy was already dead. His stomach was torn open…and…" Scar's voice began to quiver.

"And that's when I lost it…" Scar took one last drag of his cigarette. "I didn't want anyone o see me with the body so I…"

"--You dragged him into a hole."

"Well I didn't know what I was doing! My mind was thinking of these things that didn't make sense…so I did the stupidest thing possible."

Pendanski paused and reflected.

"You were only out there for a few seconds. Three minutes at most_… How could all of this possibly have happened in that amount of time_?"

"You have to believe me!"

Pendanski calmly dropped the cigarette onto the ground and crushed it with his boot.

"I believe you."

* * *

**Selley W. :** **Please read a review from me to you. It's kind of confusing but, what the hell...at least I tried.If you review again, please say something about thethings i need to improve and not justthings you may think are mistakes.  
ArwenEvenstar83: :( I'm sorry! Here, have some Eno.And I've always pitied Pendanski. He's just so...loser-ish. No offense, Dr. Pendanski.  
Lilmizzrebel31: Awww! Don't cry! lol. And yes, he's really dead. But there's some kind of a weird twistypart later in the story, which many of you will say is (abnormally) weird, but it's just my style.  
Squid Freak: Wow. Your review contrasts with the one from ilovecyberchase. She probably didn't bother to read the author's note thingy. Anyways, I'll make a note of that, and you never know, you might be dead. Lord knows if _I'm_ alive or if I'm dreaming in death.  
ilovecyberchase: sorry.  
DisasterZone16: Actually I AM working on another story. (Shh!) Thanks for defending me and thanks for reviewing.  
Nosilla: Sorry I didn't understand your question earlier. I hope things will uravel later throughout the story.  
Thetwitchnwitch: The story is not really what you think it is. Please keep reading. Thnx for the review,**


	10. People Should Live Forever

**Oh mee Goodneshhhh! I can't believe I'm already on chapter 11!**

**MERRY KRIZZMASS EVERYBODY!**

**-**

11

**----------THE WARDEN'S OFFICE----------**

"I just don't understand it!"

The Warden pondered whilst walking back and forth the wooden veranda.

Her nails toyed slowly through her course read hair which was braided like a rough rope.

"How could all this have happened in such a short time?" She shouted mostly to herself than the formation of tent councilors in front of her.

One of the councilors cleared his throat.

"Quiet." said the Warden. pressing her eyes with her fingers in concentration. "I'm trying to think!"

There was a moment's pause.

A councilor of C-Tent unwisely opened his big mouth, "Louise, I was wondering if I could----"

The Warden stepped forward and slapped the confronting man in the face. He gasped in pain, but was cut short when the Warden wrapped her bony hand around the councilor's neck.

"What were you wondering again, Mr. Niles?" she asked softly.

"N-nothing... Nothing, Miss. Walker." choked the councilor of C-Tent. His face was turning a purplish shade of blue.

The Warden released her tight grasp from the man's neck and the man's face regained color.

The other councolors said nothing. Pendanski hadn't uttered a word since the previous day. He just stared ahead emotionlessly.

The Warden went back to her 'thinking' pose as she kept her eyes down and began to subconsciously paddle back and forth again.

She put a fingernail between her teeth and bit a sliver off.

Her eyes suddenly widened with realization at what she had put into her mouth. Her hand immediatlely pulled away automatically, scratching her tongue.

"Shit!"

She bent over and had a fit, spitting out the little traces of tasted rattlesnake venom.

The poison was dry, but it was so strong, it could still taste like battery acid even if there wasn't much of it.

"Jesus!"

The B-Tent councilor's mouth opened wide in surprise.

"Louise…uh….you…um…"

"EXCUSE ME!"

The councilor walked over to the Warden's desk and picked up a dusty mirror, slowly handing it over.

She yanked it from his hand and gasped with horror at the reflection.

"My face!"

The nail she had bitten off had accidentally scratched her tongue and created a scar from her bottom lip to the tip of her chin. The scar was already turning a hint of purple.

Mr. Sir chuckled lightly, arrogantly...

The Warden immediately walked over to Mr. Sir. Even though she was shorter, she still intimidated him.

"_You fink thith is funny_?" she said, her voice muffled by her enlarged tongue.

"No ma'am. I was just... remembering something funny…a long time ago."

The Warden stared at him as if he was the stupidest man in the world.

Without saying a word, she walked slowly to the shelf and picked up a brass case with flowers all over it. Then she opened the cap gently.

Taking out what looked like nail polish, she twisted open the cap and glided the crimson liquid over her manicured nails.

Mr. Sir backed away.

The Warden didn't seem to notice.

Smiling proudly at her glossy fingernails, she softly spoke;

"Just look how it dries…"

In just one second she stepped forward and slashed Mr. Sir's face with her newly painted middle finger.

Mr. Sir screeched and his legs gave way to the pain, leading him crashing onto the floor.

None of the councilors moved. They just stared.

"You were nisher when you shmoked." She said with her large, blue tongue making her look like she was sucking on a pacifier.

---------------------------------------------------------

**-----D-TENT: LIGHTS OUT-----**

"I miss him." said Zigzag.

The other boys turned to him with surprise.

"He was a freak." Squid sneered, his thick eyebrows furrowed.

"So am **_I_**, but he was just trying to make a point." Zigzag said in a quiet voice.

"The Retard was making a _point_? You are overestimating that dumbass." Armpit cackled.

"If he's so dumb, how come he knows everything about us!"

The boys fell silent.

Zigzag opened his mouth to speak, but X-Ray interrupted;

"What did John say to you that day?"

Zigzag's eyes darted away.

"What day?" he asked.

"You know…that time when he used his Freakazoid powers to make you take your medicine without any more problems."

Zigzag raised his arms up high as if he were a pastor about to preach the Revelations apocalypse.

"It's a conspiracy, I tell you!" he began.

"Dammit, X-Ray! Now look what you did! He never shuts up!" Squid complained.

"I swear!"

Zigzag's eyes had a glow inside them as he told the story of how the government arrested him for no reason and put evil liquid in his blood as a sedative.

Magnet rolled his eyes.

The other boys jeered and laughed.

"This was like, only the sixth time you ever took your shots!" Magnet said.

"I had to. If I didn't take the shot I would have died today!"

Smiles disappeared.

"What are you, some kind of Goth?" asked Squid with obtuse scorn.

"Hey! What's wrong with being Goth?" argued Armpit. "...my grandmother was a Goth."

The room fell silent.

Suddenly everyone broke into laughter.

Armpit looked around helplessly with a confused look on his face.

"What the fuck are y'all laughin' at! My grandmother really _was _a Goth!"

They laughed even harder.

Armpit looked embarrassingly at his hands, his cheeks were so flushed, the color was visible through the smeared dust all over his face.

"Shut up..." he said shyly.

"Hey, Zigzag, you never told us about what happened..." Squid reminded.

Zigzag's smile disappeared and it turned into a weary frown.

"Nothing, really...he just came running towards me with a scary plastic syringe and convinced me to take the medicine shit."

"Yes, but _HO_W?"

"Well...he told me if I didn't take the medicine that day, I was going to have a panic attack and ...umm...die."

He had the boys' full attention now... for they all did nothing but stare.

Zigzag began, "He told me---"

"---Lemme guess. He said "Annabelle told me if you don't take this shot today you're gonna have a seizure and die." "

Zigzag shrugged. "Yeah. That's basically what he told me..."

Magnet snorted, "He is loco. Why you believe him?"

Zigzag's eyes became very solemn.

"You guys... I have something I thought I never needed to say to you..."

All five other eyes stared patiently at Zigzag.

"When I was younger, I had this weird habit of twitching. The witching got worse and worse until I was sent to the doctor...Eventually, the seizures just...stopped. I don't know how."

Everyone was silent.

Then; "You had epilepsy," said a voice from the darkness.

It was Zero.

All this time, he hasn't said a word.

But Zigzag nodded slowly. "Yeah. I had...I mean, _have_ epilepsy."

Zigzag made a steeple shape with his hands and pressed them against his freckled lips.

"I don't know if that was real epilepsy, or just a name the doctors temporarily made up because they didn't know what to call it...Well, one day the seizures just...stopped."

Magnet was already asleep, snoring like he had a feather in his nose.

All eyes were getting droopy, except for Zigzag's, which were dazed and set at a faraway look.

"Then, the day that John came, I had one of those seizure attacks in the showers. Only this time... it was really bad. Every muscle was slithering around and exploding inside my skin, and I was all alone..."

"How come you didn't tell us?"

"I didn't really think it was a good idea at the time! And then that day, Pendanski did one of his stupid medicine-taking rituals and chased me all around the camp... I ran and hid, and the next thing I knew...John was skipping towards me with the fucking syringe in his hand..."

-

"He shouldn't have died. Something went wrong here."

By then, everyone was practically asleep.

He had been talking to himself the whole time.

"Well that was fucking rude. You could have at least stayed up for..."

He was cut short at the sight of the tiny watch that Pendanski had given them.

It was 3:30 A.M.

They would be awakened in just 30 minutes.

Everything would go back to "normal" in 30 minutes.

The next day would start in 30 minutes...

_Or would it?_

* * *

**Intoxicated Romance: (-make pouty face-) So I'm not a favorite anymore? Should I change something in the story?  
lilmizzrebel31: To tell you the turth, I don't think there _are_ aliens in this story... but the answer to the question about John may never be answered...O.o  
thetwitchnwitch: erm...yeah...lol. Tanks for reviewing, it was really nice...and...um...yeah.  
EugeleeV: What's DOTM? And how come I've never heard of you before? And yeah, I was kind of tired of the GCL: GIRL stories. It's not original anymore, (though I wrote one myself, but it's really random and if you read it you will die.)  
ArwenEvenstar83: Eno is stomach medicine and it tastes like a mixture of rusted metal with a hint of lemon...mmmm...delicious. So I'm a talented author, eh? Wow. I really loved that part (tee hee). Thanx. God, I'm so concieted.  
TeaCat: (-zombie eyes-)Stephen King is the ruler of all. Everyone hail Stephen King. (-rocks back and forth-) Stephen King is good at sports and he loves his mom... (blink) no wait...that's my pet guinea pig.  
Nosilla: Did you really read the chapter? Go back and read it again, I tell you! And give me a review without the word "wow" in it. I know it's hard, but I believe in you! lol. Damn, Pendanski is creating a moster from beneath the depths of my fading sarcasm! Nooooooo!  
Shelley W.: Is that a good or bad thing?**


	11. Deja Vu

---

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

The alarm clock rang deafeningly as the sound bounced off the blue-painted walls and the sun rose up in pink and yellow bursts out the window.

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

The sleeping lump under the covers still didn't move.

Finally the door opened slowly, with a slight _squeak_. A small woman stepped in holding a mug of coffee in her hands. Her expression was so sad, so depressing, it would have made anyone turn away in guilt.

"Baby, didn't you hear the alarm clock? It was making my eye twitch from the kitchen!"

There was a tiny movement from under the covers. A small hand finally extended from the blanket and pressed the tiny button of the irritating source of the beeping.

"I'm up!" yelped a small voice.

The lump in the covers rolled over and fell to the floor with a muffled _thump_.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It's a big day today..." said the woman, with a fourth cup of coffee in her hands.

He gazed with affection and pity at his mother, who was taking a long sip of her Columbian.

Her hands were shaking, and the coffee in the mug began to swish, spilling little drops on the woman's lap.

He brought out his tiny hand and put it atop his mother's.

"It's okay, mommy. I'll be back soon." he smiled reassuringly.

Her eyes began to well up with sorrow and wretched tears.

"I just...I just can't imagine myself without my baby."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The dusty, yellow bus was waiting there for him.

It chortled with impatience as he stepped out of his mother's car and headed for the bus.

The two said nothing as the mother helped him carry his bags.

**-**

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"Boys, this is your new tent-mate." Pendanski announced with a smile on his bearded face.

The boys, exhausted from a long day of digging, just nodded lazily.

"You better treat him nicely. He is a _special_ boy." Pendanski said, nodding his head slowly at the word.

Some boys looked at their new tent mate like he was an alien that needed to go back to his home planet.

"That's Rex, Alan, Theodore, Ricky, José and good ole Zero."

The one called Rex groaned and rolled his eyes again and again, like he was trying to roll them out of his sockets. He kept rubbing them so thoroughly they turned puffy and red.

"Is there anything the matter Rex?" asked Pendanski.

Rex put on his thick pair of dirty glasses and chuckled like an old man.

"Just having a bad eye day, Mom. You know, it's gonna be ironic that good Ole X-Ray's turnin' blind!" he said lightheartedly, and then chuckled again.

Pendanski laughed too, but he really didn't understand what the hell was so damn funny.

One larger boy swaggered arrogantly towards the small boy, bent over, and looked him in the eye.

"He's kinda small to be here, ain't he?" the taller boy said.

"He's fourteen."

Some boys laughed, some boys whistled.

"Well..." said Pendanski smiling, "say 'hello'. Don't be shy."

"HELLO MY NAME IS JOHN!" hollered the boy loudly, and retreated to hide behind Pendanski.

Some people groaned in abhorrence.

_Retard._

_**pqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp**_

**Next on 'Illusions': **What does a breakfast cereal have to do with death? John knows.

**Retarded question: **If this story were a color, what would it be?

**Thank you for your reviews. Some of them were kinds weird, but hey... what is a world without weirdness?**

**ARWENEVENSTAR83: Annabelle's supposed to scare you. Muha. Fear her. Feeeeeeeeear her.**

**LILMIZZREBEL31: You can get off the floor now. I know this isn't much of a chapter, but I couldn't end it with making it seem like it doesn't matter that a certain 'someone' is back! I always love it when your name comes up in the reviews. You were my first reviewer and you still are. Thank you so so so much.**

**DRUNKEN BOXER: How can you box when you're drunk? You'll end up looking like Rocky in a matter of seconds. I actually DO read over my chapters, but I miss a lot of stuff, and I don't have much time to redo them. If you want, you can point them out and I will gladly fix them. Than you for your review. It meant a lot.**

**NOSILLA: I don't want to ruin the ending. Coz I noticed in other stories, people keep asking questions in their reviews and the author answers them in their author's notes, or in their stories. Then a few people stop reading them because most of their questions have already been answered... Some things are just supposed to stay a mystery. –creepy music comes up-. **

**GODDESS OF EVIL WATER BOTTLES: thank you thank you thank you for your reviews! I hope you stay and read more. I apologize for the shortness of this chapter. But I had a reason. Again: thanks.**

**SHELLEY W: I actually like Stephen King, but there is another author called Dean Koontz. I like him more. Don't ask why. I'll take that as a compliment and I give you a basket of cookies with one of those hallmark cards that no one reads. Thanks for ze review and have a nice day.**

**MELTEDICECREAMISME: Your review was the most inspiring of all. I can't thank you enough. See? I even underlined yours. Lolls. I don't know about the reputation thing... I'm only fourteen and not THAT good. Hope you read other stories as well, Thnx.**

**NEKO-GIRL4: Ilm glad you liked it.**


	12. The Mork

13

"**YO, FREAK**!" Squid cried, snapping his fingers over his head for attention.

John didn't even flinch as he quietly sat on his cot. He wrinkled his small nose as he saw the large, visible stain on the mattress.

Armpit walked slowly over and sat down beside John. The bed wobbled slightly.

"Barfbag slept there." Armpit said, nodding at the soiled cot. "Damn fucker wouldn't stop throwing up."

John smiled slightly, and his eyes regained the same hollowness.

"Barfbag is happy now." he said in a sweet voice.

"Whatever, man." Armpit said, shaking his head and scratching the side of his face.

The small boy still kept his pleasant smile and kept his eyes lifelessly upon the rancid stain.

"Barfbag thanks you for the shower tokens."

With that, Armpit snapped his head towards John's direction.

"What?... Do you know him?" Armpit took out a toothpick and chewed on it, laying down on his cot. He gave a slight snigger. "You know, that guy was some weirdo... Mom says he's in the hospital."

John nodded. "Yes... he's in the Mork."

Armpit sniggered again.

"Whaaa?"

"Barfbag... He's in the Mork." He nodded, as if making complete sense. "The Sad Barfbag in the Mork. The Happy Barfbag is asleep."

John put a finger to his lips. "Shhhhhh... he's sleeping."

Armpit scootched away a few inches and stared at John with a dark expression.

"Little man, I don't know what the hell a Mork is... and I certainly don't know what you have to do with Barfbag."

"MORK..." John nodded slowly. "M-o-r-g-u-e...Mork."

Luckily, Armpit didn't know how to spell. Ironically, John did.

John sighed.

"Annabelle said you wouldn't understand. No one understands."

Armpit shrugged.

"Sure I do. I _understand_ you're a real fuckin' pain in the ass."

And he laughed again.

"YO! FREAK." Squid called from his cot again.

John frowned and turned his head away.

_Don't talk to that boy, John. He's not very nice._

Annabelle's tiny voice rang in John's ear, and he obeyed it.

Suddenly long, bony hands clamped John's shoulder and he gasped slightly.

"Didn't you hear me call you?" Squid said with a slight smirk.

John shook his head, convincing himself Zigzag was just an illusion just like everything else.

"Annabelle says you're a very bad boy."

Zigzag smirked.

"You killed her... you killed your mommy, Alan. Why would someone want to kill their mommy?"

It was as if the clouds in the scorching sky had clustered and formed a thunderous storm. Squid's expression was indescribable.

"WHAT THE HELL, KID! Gitt out of my face!"

John just nodded. "Yup, yup. You been a very mean boy."

Zigzag stepped forward, and John stepped back.

"How could you just do that? She was dying on her bed and she told you to come closer. All you did was run away! You never came back!"

That was it.

Squid walked over to the new kid, and grabbed the side of the child's face. He leaned over the boy's ear so no one else could hear.

"Whoever told you this is dead... _Dead_."

Squid released his grip on the boy's face and let him drop to the ground.

And he walked out into the hot sun.

No one said a word.

John only got up, dusted himself off, and wiped his nose.

The moment he turned around to face the others, they all stepped back.

No one said a word.

For a moment, they, too, could hear the tinkling laughter of a small child, echoing through the air...

John took a deep breath and said to the boys;

"I'm looking for a Box."

-------------------------


	13. Boo!

Hmm... yes, I know you're not supposed to write a chapter completely consisting of just an author alert, but I'm just going to delete it anyway. It's just a temporary announcement until I make another chapter. Anywho, I looked over my whole story after a year's hiatus and realized that the plot was just too complicated and it wouldn't even be able to reach a conclusion before forty chapters. So I made very big changes in the story, and almost changed the plot completely. It still has the same main points, but

1) John's mother isn't dead

2) It's Squid, not zigzag, who ran away from his mother at the time of his deathbed.

3) Annabelle did not kill john... something "else" did.

3) I took away the whole first chapter with the girl, her father, and the box until I know what to do with it. So technically, that chapter doesn't even exist at present. :)

That's basically what changed. I might change more if it gets too complicated for the reader (this will depend on my next two reviews. If they contain the word 'confusing', I will simplify the plot more.)

Another chapter awaits soon enough. Thank you so much to everyone who reads my ficcies and bothers to review them, haha xD

Sincerely,

LeMoNsOuR


	14. It Isn't Supposed to Be Like This

**_Time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life. _**  
_-William Faulkner_

-

**Well, after a two year writer's block, I finished the story!!**

**Muahaha :D**

**But I'm only giving it away one chapter at a time.**

**This by far, is the most complicated plot I ever made so forgive me if you have to go back over the chapters to figure some stuff out. So I put recaps of certain parts of the story that are important to the present chapter you're reading.**

**Me is cool, eh?**

**I hope you enjoy. I made it just for you. :)  
**

-

**NOTE: Anything in _italics _was written before in other chapters but mostly there to refresh your memory.**

* * *

_**Chapter 9 recap:**_

_There was a ripping BANG and the spraying of red dust in the air._

"_It's not supposed to be like this..." a little girl's voice kept saying over and over again._

_Scar looked down in horror as he saw John's body sprawled on the floor._

* * *

X-Ray widened his eyes exaggeratively and jumped up, acting surprised. This slightly scared John, but still he didn't move.

"A box?! A BOX?! Well, boy, what kind of a box is it?"

John smiled his smile, and for a second, X-Ray's heart dipped into his stomach guiltily.

But only for a second.

"A treasure box!" John exclaimed.

"Did Annabelle tell you that, too?" Squid scoffed, still thinking about his mother. He hated John. And that Freak was going to pay!

John sighed and sat on the bed and suddenly he put his face in his hands and began to sob quietly to himself.

Squid scoffed again, and the others looked away out of awkwardness.

_God, why is he __**here?**_

Zigzag walked cautiously towards John and sat on the cot beside him. The moment that he had seen this boy, Zigzag felt a kind of… fear. But this time when he looked down at the thing, all he could feel was pity and curiosity.

"Now, now. boy.," Zigzag said in his most adult voice, " This isn't the place for such shenanigans. You have to stop that right now."

John lifted his round, blotchy face from his hands and looked up at Zigzag. His large, black eyes held a screaming person inside, dying to leap out of John's inarticulate tongue and express what he truly felt.

But no, John couldn't do that.

John was just a—

"_Fucking retard_," Squid mumbled to himself, then rolled to his side and covered his steaming face with a pillow, thinking about his mother.

"I don't want to do this anymore," John simply said, then continued crying.

"You don't want to do _what _anymore?" Zigzag asked.

John slowly, almost soundlessly, lowered himself to his new, vomit-reeking cot and closed his eyes.

"So… tired. I'm not supposed to be here… It's not s'posed to be like this… I'm not supposed to…I'm…I'm…"

He dozed off.

_I'm not supposed to be here…_

**THREE DAYS LATER**

_(ref.chapter 9)_

"_What the hell is this?"_

_A trail of rich, thick blood…_

"_Everybody stay calm!"_

_Pendanski follows the trail of gore into the desert night._

_It's dark…_

_Flashlight…_

"_I need a flashlight."_

_Pendanski got up and ran as quickly as he could to F-Tent, where he had a flashlight stored somewhere in his crate._

_His hands found a cylindrical object and he brought it close to his face._

_Pendanski sat next to the edge of the hole and flicked the switch of the flashlight._

_Peering over the dark hole once again, he stuck out his hand and shone the light into it._

"_N-n-n-n-no…" He said, his voice was small and hoarse._

_Words could not describe the fear, agony, nausea after what he had seen._

_Words just couldn't describe..._

"_John…"_

_No. it wasn't John. It couldn't have been._

_Could it?_

_The cold sweat was now pouring profusely from his pores and dripped off of his large nose._

_He felt like screaming, but couldn't even bring himself to move._

_First his wife…and now…_

"_No…"_

_John, or what was left of John, was sprawled at the bottom of the hole._

_The stomach area was ripped open and the trail of blood ended there, in his abdomen. John's once peaceful eyes were now closed into its final slumber. His hands were fisted tightly as if he was trying to withstand great pain._

_He must have been killed near the Wreck room, and then dragged to a chosen hole._

_What person would have thought he could be rid of the body by dumping it into a hole, yet leaving an easy trail to follow?_

_And how could he have been killed so quickly and dragged here in a short period of time?_

_He felt sick._

_-_

_**-THE WARDEN'S OFFICE--**_

"_I just don't understand it!"_

_The Warden pondered whilst walking back and forth the wooden veranda._

_Her nails toyed slowly through her course read hair which was braided like a rough rope._

"_How could all this have happened in such a short time?" She shouted mostly to herself than the formation of tent councilors in front of her._

_-_

Meanwhile, Scar shuddered like a dying fool in a bathroom stall. He was crying, and everyone could hear this.

What did it matter, anyway? Everyone knew because of that fucking dead kid that he was a… a drag queen.

_Annabelle told me you have girl's clothes in your bag and you try them on when no one's looking._

He spat on the ground and continued playing the scene over and over in his mind…

The bright light, the look of pain in that poor little shit's face… dragging him into that hole…

That little girl's voice…

"_It wasn't supposed to be like this…"_

Everything he ever knew seemed intangible and strange.

"What _happened?_"

Then suddenly

Scar became aware of something much odder that even what just happened.

Everything seemed so…

Familiar.

John's face, his smile, the white light.

It was all so God damned…

Familiar.

Then at that moment, he knew.

He knew what that little girl meant.

"It isn't supposed to be like this… It isn't…"

Suddenly he heard Pendanski's voice outside of the stall.

"Jerry?"

_It's _Scar_, you piece of hokey pokey shit._

The thin door that was permeable to all sounds of discomfort and digestive secrets creaked open, and the small man was standing right in front of him.

Yet there was something very different about the way that Pendanski was standing, talking, breathing.

Scar opened his mouth to say something, _anything _sensible enough to prove his sanity in this world he was now so unsure of.

But all that came out was,

"It… it isn't…"

Pendanski saw it in the boy's face. In his blue eyes that had been completely enveloped in black.

"Jerry?"

But Jerry was gone.

"It isn't supposed to be like this… IT ISN'T… IT ISN'T SUPPOSED TO…"

Before anyone, including scar was able to know what was happening, he leapt upon the councilor and wrapped his calloused hands around the man's neck.

"IT ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THIS! YOU DON'T GET IT! YOU'RE FAKE! YOU'RE FAKE!"

Just as Pendanski's vision was completely covered in black, the boy was pulled off of him, and he heard the Warden's voice.

"The kid has lost it. Someone call the authorities."

Scar's hysteria weakened and for no reason at all, he passed out.

The institution sent a van a few hours later. Pendanski watched as they carried theboy away in a stretcher, still mumbling those words.

"It's not… not supposed to be like this…"

But at the very last three seconds before he was hoisted into the van, Scar's eyes went into focus, and he stared at Pendanski with such an intensity that it made him squirm.

But what the boy said and the way he said it made Pendasnki doubt every single thing he was ever sure of.

Scar said,

"Annabelle… She's yours, isn't she?"

Pendanski stared.

"She didn't kill him. It wasn't her."

And the doors closed, dragging Scar's mess of a mind away, and Pendanski left to clean it up.

-

**It's midnight. Walter is in his pajamas correcting papers.**

**He is a schoolteacher. He has a class the next day.**

**Dianne is beside him in a newly-bought, silk nightgown that barely hid curve nor contour…**

**She had hoped he would notice it.**

**"Do you like it?' she had just asked minutes earlier, shyly twirling around, hoping to catch that glimmer in his eye he used to have, followed by a "you're so beautiful," and a blush on either of their cheeks… usually his.**

**"Dianne, it's the middle of winter, what are you thinking?" Walter laughed and continued correcting his papers, leaving Dianne silent and disappointed.**

**Strangely she didn't blame Walter. Of _course_ he had put up walls around him since… _that day_, so had she.**

**That day…**

**"_Your daughter has leukemia…"_**

**And just a year later, the coma…**

**Dianne blamed God.**

**And Walter blamed himself.**

**Dianne suddenly begins to wonder what Annabelle is dreaming right now…**

**What she is remembering, what she is feeling.**

**She gazes at the back of his head for the longest time, diligently working in his mask of papers.**

**_D is for diligence._**

**"Walter…"**

**"Just a second."**

**"I have to tell you something…."**

**Walter murmured something with annoyance in his voice, but still did not turn from his papers.**

**"Please… look at me. It's important."**

**Irritated, Walter sighed, and rolled over to face her. His face was set like wax.**

**"I am pregnant."**

**His head unexpectedly jerked, as if someone had turned the _on_ switch in his brain.**

**"What, you mean pregnant? Like… with a baby?" Walter choked.**

**"Well, I hope it is," she replied, smiling tiredly.**

**Then she saw it. That little glint in Walter's eye, and in that single moment, he became the old Walter again.**

**_Stupid man._**

**He dropped his "important" papers and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.**

**"A new baby! God is giving us a second chance, Diane!" Walter breathed in a hopeful, childish manner.**

**_Yeah… "God." _**

**"A new baby…" he murmured again, smiling.**

**_Yep… and it isn't yours._**

--

It began with his eyes

There was something about the black, powerful gaze that drew her into his strange, peculiar mannerisms.

He was Asian, new and strange to her.

And he was fucking hot.

And she wanted him.

He lived next door.

Which made it convenient enough to begin the obsession…

Walter's obsession with the baby.

And the next door neighbor's obsession with Dianne.

* * *

Dedicated to ooihcnoiwlerh, flamingblade28, Maddiecake,  
xhellsoverhead- thanks for the critiques. yeah, this story is really "out there", but I constantly keep doing that because it makes me less bored.


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